A GUIDE TO TEACHING
Every one’s an Author
SECOND EDITION
A GUIDE TO TEACHING
Every one’s an Author
SECOND EDITION
LISA EDE
OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
ANDREA LUNSFORD
STANFORD UNIVERSITY
MICHAL BRODY
SONOMA STATE UNIVERSITY
BEVERLY J. MOSS
THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY
CAROLE CLARK PAPPER
HOFSTRA UNIVERSITY
KEITH WALTERS
PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY
B
W. W. NORTON & COMPANY
New York • London
W. W. Norton & Com pany has been in de pen dent since its founding in 1923, when William Warder
Norton and Mary D. Herter Norton fi rst published lectures delivered at the People’s Institute, the adult
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employees.
[ v ]
See the tabbed dividers for detailed contents of each section.
Planning a Writing Course
15 Designing a Writing Course 229
16 Creating a Syllabus 236
17 Designing Writing Assignments 240
Conducting Class
18 Managing Class Activities 245
19 Conducting Class Workshops 255
20 Working One- on- One with Students 260
21 Using Writing Activities in Class 265
22 Using Readings to Teach Writing 270
23 Teaching in a Technology- Enriched
Classroom 275
24 Teaching Writing Online 279
25 Creating and Sustaining a Teaching
Persona 286
26 Balancing Gradu ate Studies with Writing
Instruction 290
27 Interacting with Students 296
28 Teaching for Inclusion and Diversity 300
29 Teaching Multilingual Writers 307
Responding to Writing
30 Responding to Student Writing 321
31 Teaching with Writing Portfolios 334
32 Managing the Paper Load 340
33 Grading Student Writing 343
Preface vii
Contributors xi
Sample Syllabi
1 A Sampler of Course Plans and Syllabi 1
Sample Writing Assignments
2 A Sampler of Assignments and Activities 25
Learning Outcomes
3 How Every one’s an Author Supports
the WPA Outcomes 71
4 How Every one’s an Author Supports
the Framework for Success
in Postsecondary Writing 84
Teaching with Every one’s an Author
5 Introduction: Is Every one an Author? 89
6 Part I: The Need for Rhe toric and Writing 90
7 Part II: Writing Pro cesses 99
8 Part III: Genres of Writing 106
9 Part IV: The Centrality of Argument 157
10 Part V: Research 162
11 Part VI: Style 172
12 Part VII: Design and Delivery 177
Teaching the Readings
13 Teaching the Readings 187
14 Teaching with the Tumblr 223
Contents
Author videos available at wwnorton . com/web/EAAvideos:
ANDREA LUNSFORD, Can Every one Today Be an Author?
LISA EDE, Engaging Students in Collaborative Work and Audience in a Digital World
BEVERLY J. MOSS, Taking Advantage of the Writing Center and Working with Writing Tutors
CAROLE CLARK PAPPER, How to Incorporate Multimodal Writing in a Composition Class
KEITH WALTERS, Teaching Classes with Both Monolingual and Multilingual Students and Teaching Style
[ vii ]
EVERYONE’S AN AUTHOR AIMS TO INTRODUCE undergraduate students to
writing as it really is today— with words, images, and sounds; in print and
online; on Facebook and in college essays— and to do so within a strongly rhetori-
cal framework. In short, this book challenges students to think of themselves as
authors and to get their words and ideas out there for others to read and respond
to. Faced with almost limitless opportunities for authorship, students need help
understanding that each opportunity constitutes a rhetorical situation and that
every rhetorical situation comes with its own constraints. Our goal is to help stu-
dents develop the ability to think strategically about how best to develop those
opportunities within the constraints that inevitably accompany them.
There are many ways of approaching this goal. So, while one teacher might
begin with Part I, The Need for Rhe toric and Writing (particularly Ch. 1, THINKING
RHETORICALLY, and Ch. 2, RHETORICAL SITUATIONS), to provide the foundation for a course
grounded in an understanding of rhe toric, another might choose to begin with Part
IV in order to focus on the centrality of argument in all forms of communication.
Yet another approach might center on the genre chapters in Part III (CHOOSING GENRES,
ARGUING A POSITION, WRITING A NARRATIVE, WRITING ANALYTICALLY, REPORTING INFORMATION,
WRITING A REVIEW, and WRITING A PROPOSAL), each of which includes guidelines to help
students consider their rhetorical situations in the context of a par tic u lar genre. For
any of these approaches, you can be guided by the structure of the chapters, or you
can select parts from vari ous chapters to create your own specifi c plan for your
own teaching situation.
No matter what approach you take, it’s a good idea during the fi rst class to go
over Every one’s an Author with your students. Explain how you’ll be using the
book, and help them to understand how they can best use it. We especially recom-
mend explaining the book’s system of color– coding, icons, and links— all things
that will greatly enhance their use of the book, and that will help them with their
goal of learning how to write.
•
YELLOW is used to highlight writing guidelines.
Preface
[ viii ]
• GREEN pages cover research.
• GRAY pages include MLA guidelines.
•
REFLECTION EXERCISES marked by the little red fl ourish (.) prompt students to
pause to refl ect on some topic. These exercises were suggested by William
Lalicker (West Chester University), who said they would “encourage students
to see their reading as dialogic: not just taking it all in, but constantly ques-
nal assignments. (See p. 202 for one example.)
•
THINK BEYOND WORDS is the label we use for multimodal readings. We’ve put an
image from each reading in the book, with a link to the full reading on the
p. 125 for one example.)
If You’re Using Every one’s an Author with Readings
This version of the book is designed as two books in one, with the rhe toric in the
front and a brief anthology of readings in the back. You’ll fi nd a Menu of Readings
at the very back of the book, or ga nized alphabetically by author as well as by genre
Please note that all the readings are on blue pages to make them easy to spot.
Be sure to point out to students that there are links in the margins that help them
navigate between the readings and the rhe toric: the blue boxes (e.g., on p. 49) refer
them to useful examples in the readings, and the white boxes (e.g., on p. 818) refer
Using the Tumblr Site
Every one’s an Author includes a companion Tumblr site (everyonesanauthor . tumblr
. com), which offers additional material— essays, articles, cartoons, videos, podcasts,
interviews, and more— all indexed by genre, theme, and medium. Each selection is
PREFACE
[ ix ]
followed by questions to spark analy sis, discussion, refl ection— and writing, along
with a commenting space where students can literally join (or start) a conversa–
tion. We’re posting new items regularly, so the Tumblr site will be a good source for
fresh, timely readings and a place where students can practice being an author!
For more ideas about how to use the Tumblr site in your class, see Ch. 14 of this
Guide.
What’s New to This Guide
In addition to updates we’ve made to fi t the second edition of Every one’s an Author,
we’ve added some new sections and features to make this Guide even more useful
to you as you plan your writing course.
• A sampler of writing assignments and activities. Created and tested in real
classrooms, these assignments cover a range of genres and media and
include ideas for both short writing activities and larger writing and research
proj ects.
• The new WPA Outcomes and the Framework for Success in Postsecondary
Writing were two documents we kept fi rmly in mind when writing this
book. See Chs. 3 and 4 for a detailed matching of how Every one’s an Author
helps students meet these standards.
son plan as well as some general ideas for incorporating the Every one’s an
Author Tumblr site into your course.
Acknowl edgments
We believe that the best textbooks are always the product of collaboration, and
this instructor’s guide provides a case in point, as many hands have contributed to
its development. All of the book authors— Andrea Lunsford, Michal Brody, Lisa Ede,
PREFACE
[ x ]
Beverly Moss, Carole Clark Papper, and Keith Walters— have had a hand in writing
the parts of this manual that are explic itly related to Every one’s an Author. In addi–
tion, we are grateful to Richard Bullock, who has generously allowed us to include
some of the materials about writing and writing instruction that he wrote for his
manual to The Norton Field Guide to Writing. And we very much appreciate the
PREFACE
[ xi ]
Michal Brody is a linguist, in de pen dent scholar, and lecturer. She was a founding
faculty member of the Universidad de Oriente in Yucatán, Mexico, and teaches
now at Sonoma State University. Her scholarly work centers on language peda-
Richard Bullock is Professor Emeritus at Wright State University, where he directed
the writing programs and served as assistant chair of the En glish Department.
Adrienne Cassel is Associate Professor of En glish at Sinclair Community College in
Dayton, Ohio. She has designed and taught over a dozen online classes. She teaches
academic research writing with an environmental slant and American lit er a ture
and the ecol ogy of short– grass prairies. Her poetry has been published in 5 A.M.,
Flights, and the Northwest Review. She has an MFA from Bennington College and a
PhD from the University of Cincinnati.
Jimmy Chesire is a writer, teacher, counselor, and coach. He teaches fi rst– year
composition, undergraduate and gradu ate creative writing, and a course called
“Enhancing One’s Creativity” at Wright State University, where he is a se nior lec-
turer. He’s published a couple of short stories, a short memoir, a novel, Home Boy,
Lisa Ede is Professor Emerita of En glish at Oregon State University, where she
directed the Center for Writing and Learning and taught courses in composition,
Contributors
[ xii ]
rhe toric, and literacy studies. She’s received the Braddock and Shaughnessy Awards
for her research on audience and classical rhe toric. Her recent books include Situat–
ing Composition: Composition Studies and the Politics of Location and (with Andrea
Melissa Faulkner is Assistant Professor of En glish at Cedarville University in
Cedarville, Ohio, where she teaches courses in basic En glish, composition, and rhe-
toric, and directs the WAC program. She has authored multiple articles and serves
her community by teaching ESL courses to immigrants.
Scott Geisel teaches composition and fi ction writing at Wright State University.
He is the editor of Gravity Fiction, a collection of short stories by college writers. He
was Assisting Editor for Flash Fiction Forward and New Sudden Fiction and a co-
founding editor of MudRock: Stories & Tales. He was a fi nalist for the 2008 Eric
Hoffer Award for fi ction and has a story included in Best New Writing 2008.
Andrea Lunsford is Professor Emerita of En glish at Stanford University and is on
the faculty at the Bread Loaf School of En glish. Her scholarly interests include con–
temporary rhetorical theory, women and the history of rhe toric, collaboration,
style, and technologies of writing. She’s received the Braddock and Shaughnessy
Awards for her research on audience and classical rhe toric, and in 1994 she received
the CCCC Exemplar Award. She is currently at work on The Norton Anthology of
Rhe toric and Writing.
CONTRIBUTORS
[ xiii ]
Corps volunteer, and the Arab world more broadly. He’s the co– author of two other
textbooks, Every thing’s an Argument with Readings and What’s Language Got to
Do with It? Prior to teaching at PSU, he taught in the Linguistics Department at
the University of Texas at Austin and in the En glish Department at The Ohio State
University.
CONTRIBUTORS
A GUIDE TO TEACHING
Every one’s an Author
SECOND EDITION
[ 1 ]
one
A Sampler of Course Plans
and Syllabi
EVERYONE’S AN AUTHOR TEACHES THE GENRES that college students are
most often assigned or expected to do, along with instruction in rhe toric,
argument, research, delivery, style, design, and more. Chapters can be assigned in
any order: while one teacher might begin with Part I for a course grounded in an
understanding of rhe toric, another might choose to begin with Part III for a course
that focuses on a number of specifi c genres of writing. What ever approach you
take, we’ve included links throughout our textbook to help you draw from other
parts of the book as need be.
with a variety of interests. Following are several course plans and syllabi that
suggest some of the ways to use this book. The course plans provide general advice
about how teachers might use Every one’s an Author in courses with dif fer ent
emphases. The syllabi that follow show how par tic u lar teachers in par tic u lar
institutions have used this textbook to meet their own goals— and those of their
writing programs.
COURSE PLANS
For a Course Focused on Academic Writing
how strategies they use on social media transfer to academic
writing with Ch. 30, TWEETS TO REPORTS. Extend their basis for
SAMPLE SYLLABI
[ 2 ]
participating in the academic conversation with Chs. 1 and 2 on
THINKING RHETORICALLY and considering RHETORICAL SITUATIONS. Assign
a brief piece of academic writing— for example:
Schedule group sessions for discussion.
to go back to the text they wrote and decide whether or not they
were making an argument. Schedule a peer review session
focused on strengthening their arguments.
Weeks 6–8 Introduce the basics of analy sis with Ch. 13 on WRITING ANALYTI–
CALLY. Writing activities could include drafting a causal analy sis of
Weeks 9–10 Once they’ve learned to analyze and argue a position, introduce
them to the basics of academic research by reading and discuss-
topic to research, narrow that topic, and do background research
in order to develop a research question.
Weeks 13–14 Have students use Ch. 14 on REPORTING INFORMATION and Chs. 24–26
to report their fi ndings. Introduce documentation, assigning
If you want to emphasize the importance of DESIGN AND DELIVERY and WRITING IN
MULTIPLE MODES, consider assigning relevant chapters from Part VII.
academic writing in one week rather than two, and eliminate the assignment on
REPORTING INFORMATION.
% A Sampler of Course Plans and Syllabi [ 3 ]
For a Course Focused on Argument
since your students will be writing in an academic context,
consider assigning Ch. 4 on MEETING THE DEMANDS OF ACADEMIC
effective argument. Ch. 18 introduces the basic STRATEGIES FOR
SUPPORTING AN ARGUMENT, which can apply to any argument.
Weeks 5–6 Because analy sis is central to both understanding and creating
arguments, you might then assign Ch. 13 on WRITING ANALYTICALLY
and have students compose a written analy sis of a given argu–
Weeks 7–8 Ch. 11 on ARGUING A POSITION shows students how to identify an
arguable subject, articulate a position, and argue for their position.
If your students need help with MANAGING THE WRITING PRO CESS, assign Ch. 7.
If you want to promote group work, Ch. 8 focuses on COLLABORATION.
If your campus has a WRITING CENTER, assign Ch. 9.
the course—or you could cover an additional genre. Ch. 15 on WRITING A REVIEW would
be a good choice, since it calls on writers to write an evaluative argument.
SAMPLE SYLLABI
[ 4 ]
For a Course Focused on Research
Weeks 1–2 Begin with the Part V introduction (pp. 443–44) and have stu-
dents do the exercise on p. 444 as a way to begin thinking about
Weeks 3–4 Chs. 20–22 on FINDING SOURCES, KEEPING TRACK, and EVALUATING
SOURCES all help with the pro cess of gathering information and
data.
dents to pres ent them orally in class. Students who need help
with MAKING PRE SEN TA TIONS can look to Ch. 35.
Weeks 7–8 Then have them ANNOTATE A BIBLIOGRAPHY (Ch. 23) and submit a
rough draft.
them GIVE CREDIT and AVOID PL AGIARISM .
Weeks 12–13 Assign a documentation chapter: Ch. 27 for MLA or Ch. 28 for APA.
Weeks 14–15 Have students refl ect on their research and writing pro cess using
If your campus has a WRITING CENTER, refer students to Ch. 9.
If you want students to pres ent or share their work (with classmates or a wider
audience), assign relevant chapters from Part VII, DESIGN AND DELIVERY.
For a Course Focused on a Theme
readings on those same themes. If you’re using one of the themes covered in the
book, links in the margins will help you move between the readings and the
writing instruction, allowing you to base your syllabus on either the readings or
the rhe toric.