Ballenger - Curious Writer, Brief Edition, The

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Ballenger, Bruce P.

The curious writer/Bruce Ballenger.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-13-409002-3ISBN 978-0-13-408038-3 (brief ed.)ISBN 978-0-13-412070-6 (concise ed)

1.English languageRhetoricHandbooks, manuals, etc.2.Interdisciplinary approach in educationHandbooks, manuals, etc.3.Academic writingHandbooks, manuals, etc. I.Title.

PE1408.B37 2017

808'.042dc23

2015030685

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Student Edition ISBN 13: 978-0-13-408038-3

Student Edition ISBN 10: 0-13-408038-6

A la Carte Edition ISBN 13: 978-0-13-412144-4

A la Carte Edition ISBN 10: 0-13-412144-9

I have a friend, a painter, who teaches art at my university, and his introductory courses teach the subskills of painting, things like how to use a brush, mix paints, and understand color theory. Common sense suggests that such fundamentals are the starting place for any creative activity, including writing. But college writers walk into our classes with a lifetime of language use. They already know a lot about making meaning with words, more than they think they know. Yet there is much to teach, and perhaps the most powerful thing we can teach them is that writing isnt just for getting down what you know but for discovering what you think. Ive learned to never underestimate the power of this discovery process, and thats why discovery is the beating heart of this book.

The fifth edition of The Curious Writer represents a substantial revision, including a new chapter on repurposing academic writing into contemporary genres like podcasts and infographics, and substantially revised chapters on argument and analytic writing. As always, I have also made revisions throughout with the overall aim of making the book more teachable and more reflective of the world in which todays students live. Heres what you will find:

• A completely new chapter on repurposing (re-genre-ing) writing () encourages students to transform academic writing into contemporary genres including blogs, audio and video podcasts, infographics, and more. In creating these transformations, students gain a deeper rhetorical knowledge of genre conventions, strengths, and limitations.

• A thoroughly reorganized and revised chapter on argument () now offers clearer, more comprehensive guidance on what an argument is and how to write oneknowledge and skills that are at the center of almost all good writing.

• A significantly revised chapter on critical analysis () widens its focus beyond literature to include images, objects, ads, and moreany texts in our lives that may have ambiguous meanings.

• A significantly revised section on research includes updated information about data searches, a new section on online interviews and surveys, and new student and professional essays, as well as expanded coverage of plagiarism and synthesizing sources.

• New readings and illustrations throughout offer fresh perspectives on current topics to engage students more effectively.

Composition teachers often struggle to define what skills we can offer to studentsbeyond the acts of reading and writingthat they can export to their other classes and, later, into their lives. Often we vaguely refer to critical thinking skills. The Curious Writer suggests that what we can offer is the skill of inquiring. Most of us already teach inquiry, although we may not all realize it. For example, our writing classes invite students to be active participants in making knowledge in the classroom through peer review. When we ask students to fastwrite or brainstorm, we encourage them to suspend judgment and openly explore their feelings or ideas. And when we urge students to see a draft as a first look at a topic, and revision as a means of discovering what they may not have noticed before, we teach a process that makes discovery its purpose. Indeed, most composition classrooms create a culture of inquirers.

For inquiry-based courses on any subject, I believe instructors should take five key actions:

1. Create an atmosphere of mutual inquiry. Students are used to seeing their teachers as experts who know everything. But in an inquiry-based classroom, instructors are learners too. They ask questions not because they already know the answers but because there might be answers they havent considered.

2. Emphasize questions before answers. The idea that student writers should begin with an inflexible thesis or a firm position on a topic before engaging in the process of writing is anathema to inquiry-based learning. Questions, not preconceived answers, lead to new discoveries.