Synopses & Reviews
"Like all writers, intellectuals need to say something new and say it well. But unlike many other writers, what intellectuals have to say is bound up with the books we are reading . . . and the ideas of the people we are talking with."
What are the moves that an academic writer makes? How does writing as an intellectual change the way we work from sources? In Rewriting, a textbook for the undergraduate classroom, Joseph Harris draws the college writing student away from static ideas of thesis, support, and structure, and toward a more mature and dynamic understanding. Harris wants college writers to think of intellectual writing as an adaptive and social activity, and he offers them a clear set of strategies—a set of moves—for participating in it.
Review
"While the book is aimed at undergraduates, [it] reads like a thoughtful primer on doing scholarly writing and, even more importantly, on forming a professional identity as a publishing scholar. . . . Harris provides the 'terms of art,' as it were, for writers to achieve that self-awareness."
—Howard Tinberg, CCC
Review
"[O]ne of the reasons why I find the book so teachable and important is that it invites us to think more deeply than we might otherwise about what we want our writing to do and how we intend to make that happen."
—Laura Micciche, CCC
Review
"Writing this essay in response to
Rewriting has given me a better sense of the moves I, myself, make. . . . I can think of no higher praise."
—Donna Qualley, Reader, special issue on Rewriting