Textbook Review: Writing Today by Richard Johnson-Sheehan and Charles Paine

Alright, I know I am a couple days late posting, but here it is, a very rough draft of my textbook review!

    Writing Today, Richard Johnson-Sheehan and Charles Paine, is a textbook aimed at first-year writing students. From the very beginning this text book is definitely aimed towards a certain group of people. The cover of the book is an Apple I-phone that looks like a variety of applications that are available, but give the various titles to the sections in the book. It is pretty colorful. At first glance, looking at the cover I thought of the technology generation and how they would relate to the cover. This then made me ask the question, would a non-traditional first year writing student look at the cover the same way as a traditional first year writing student? My answer is no, because I am a non-traditional student and was very put off by the cover.

    Next, I began looking through the book and as soon as I opened the book the first thing that catches is my eye is the title page within the book, and this time it is the same photo but now the applications are coming off the phone and flying through the air. Personally, I was thinking, this is annoying looking and very childish. Then I looked to the inside of the cover and I really liked what they did here. In a very organized manner they give the "Brief Contents" of the book and it is broken down in parts. Yes, it is very colorful, but for this I find that to be okay because it makes it easier to see when the parts change.

    Still looking at this inside cover, I will say this: for a professor this is awesome because they know that more than likely they cannot cover every single thing in this book in one semester. It is 888 pages long after all! However, since it is broken into parts and the parts have titles, a professor can choose what will be important to them and what will not be important to them. Also, it gives each chapter that is included within those parts, so again a professor can go in and choose if there are only certain chapters they want to use out of each part. Now, for a student this is also awesome because it is a quick reference guide. Personally, I am one who likes to have an idea as to where a professor is going with their syllabus and by looking at a syllabus, then looking at this, I will know.

    Third, I looked at the various pages through out the book. What I first noticed was all the colors used. Again, in my eyes this is very juvenile and reminds me of high school textbooks. So, again I am forced to ask the question, is this textbook only being targeted to traditional students? Then I noticed at the end of every chapter when the authors want to talk about Ideas for Writing, they put in these pictures of people beside the sections within this area. Are you kidding me? It looks as if they are just trying to cover up some white space and one of the authors says, "hey let's use some random pictures of people." The last thing I do not like about this textbook is the random pictures they use for the beginning of each part.

    Those are the negatives to this textbook; however, I do have to say there are some positives within this textbook as well. First, there is an introduction page to every part and it breaks down what each chapter is going to be about. This again makes it very easy for the professor and the student to know what is going on. Something else I like is there are a lot of samples of papers throughout that match what the authors are trying to demonstrate to the student, so this textbook works well for visual learners as well. Another way the authors help the visual learner is by giving a lot of charts, especially flow charts. Probably my favorite part about the textbook is the fact that they show more than one way to do things. Johnson-Sheehan and Paine really recognize that not all students can do things the same way and so they try to reach more than one student.

    Writing Today truly tries to teach first-year composition by breaking down different aspects of writing and giving different parts; Getting Started, Using Genres to Express Ideas, Developing a Writing Process, Strategies or Shaping Ideas, Doing Research, Getting Your Ideas Out There, Anthology of Readings, and Handbook. This textbook truly tries to expose a first-year writer to all different aspects and types of writing. Johnson-Sheehan and Paine teach students through this book using information that is relevant to them and very current issues. For example, in Chapter 5, Profiles, under Part 2, Genres, they show that a person can use a personal profile for such things as Facebook, LinkedIn, or Myspace. All thee of which are very current and popular at this point in time; however, it may not be something a non-traditional student is using because some refuse to embrace technology and others just have no interest in technology.

    The Preface of the book was one of the best I have probably ever seen in a textbook, especially for professors. Johnson-Sheehan and Paine give some of their background information, so a reader understands their personal experiences and it makes the reader feel connected to them. Then they go into how the book is organized and what to expect in each part, yet again giving the professor and an even better idea of what they may want to include in a semester and leave out. Third, they discuss ways this book may fit into one's teaching approach. The word that jumped out at me here was flexibility, because I think so many professors would prefer a textbook, especially for first-year composition, to be flexible to what their needs are. This part even gives some greater descriptions of what they were thinking when coming up with the different parts of the textbook and again this allows a feeling of connection to the authors and also an understanding of what they are trying to bring through the pages. Fourth, a even deeper description of features of the book, so a professor will understand know what they are encountering in each chapter. Finally, they leave us with who they are.

    This textbook is truly a great price at $66.67, especially considering is 888 pages in length. I would highly recommend this book for a first-year composition teacher at Texas Wesleyan or Tarrant County Junior College, but would give them a strong caution that it seems to be truly geared towards the traditional student crowd. I believe both traditional and non-traditional students are able to learn from this book because of the wealth of information given, but a non-traditional student will be very annoyed with how juvenile parts of it are. I believe professors would enjoy teaching from this book because they have made it very easy for professors to be flexible in what and how they teach a first-year writing course.