Textbook Report

Textbook Report

Claire Schmidt

4.12.07

English 8010

Compose Design Advocate:

A Rhetoric for Integrating Written, Visual, and Oral Communication

Anne Frances Wysocki and Dennis A. Lynch

New York: Pearson Longman, 2007

I chose this text because of the word “advocate” in the title. My hope was that the rhetoric would encourage citizen action, and I was pleased to find that it did. The “Purpose of this Book” states, “Because we see communication as being about building relationships among people, and because we see thoughtful and careful communication as being central to active and engaged citizenship, we present our approach to communication with a focus on civic advocacy” (iii).

The book is arranged in three sections: Designing Compositions Rhetorically, Producing Compositions, and Analyzing the Arguments of Others. Each section contains 5 or more chapters. The text is well-organized but very busy. Each page uses multiple colors of text, as well as photographs, visual designs, and visual representations of concepts. I found the explosion of color, visuals and varied formatting very distracting and sometimes confusing, but I can see how this might appeal to different learning styles.

Compose Design Advocate defines its position and intention throughout the book. I appreciate this self-awareness on the part of the authors, and their respect for those who read the book. By putting forth their intentions they demystify the relationship between author and reader, which I think disarms the reader and may diffuse some student frustration and hostility.

The book makes its definitions very reader-friendly. As a person who comes to rhetoric relatively uninformed, I very much appreciated the informal (yet serious and intentioned) approach to rhetoric. Page 29 features a great discussion of rhetoric that made me feel like I could talk about rhetoric in the classroom in a sensible way.

What I liked:

• Colorful; visually appealing
• Attempts to represent a diverse readership and/or appeal to a diverse worldview
• Continually uses stories to reinforce concepts
• Attempts to establish rapport with student
• Text is engaging

What I didn’t like:

• Layout can be visually distracting
• Cost ($58) (though obviously it could be worse)

Conclusion: I am very tempted to use this book. I hope the by the time I teach English 1000 (Fall 2008) used copies will be available. This book is many things, but it is not boring (to me). I found it very practical and pragmatic, but also full of idealism, which might (hopefully) in some way resonate with young students.

Designing Writing: A Practical Guide

Mike Palmquist

Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2005

Mike Palmquist’s Designing Writing is just what it claims to be: a practical guide. It’s small, light, concise, and easy to carry around. Not only is it physically convenient, but it’s also relatively inexpensive.

Palmquist prefaces the text by stating, “Designing Writing is based on the premise that content might be king, but kings are at their best when they’re properly attired” (iii). While I generally agree with this statement, I find his preface far less compelling than Wysocki’s Compose Design Advocate. He addresses many of the same issues with which Wysocki et al are concerned, but does so in a way that I find less compelling. Palmquist says, “Designing Writing, in short, treats document design as a rhetorical act…Designing Writing focuses on what writers need to know—how to analyze the visual principles that inform convincing documents and how to make effective choices as they design their own writing” (iv). While I appreciate that a preface is generally not written for the student, but rather for the instructor, I felt that Palmquist’s preface immediately created a boundary between the student and the text. Though the content is clearly directed toward the student, I feel that he fails to achieve the level of comfortable communication that seems so successful in Compose Design Advocate.

The text is divided into three parts; each part is divided into five to six chapters. The first section focuses on design principles and writing, the second section focuses on design elements, and the third section focuses on design characteristics of essays, articles, brochures, flyers, multimedia presentations, and web sites. Each chapter is quite short and to the point, and includes little theory and much practical application.

Designing Writing is less about writing and much more about design. Palmquist covers writing and non-visual rhetoric in less than thirty pages of Section 1. The text contains no information on theses, topic sentences, sentence/paragraph level organization, or word choice, though he does include a hefty section on plagiarism. Instead, Palmquist focuses on the arrangement of text to enhance clarity and persuasiveness.

Designing Writing is designed to help students use visual media to enhance their writing. Palmquist includes a great deal of very practical information on how to best convey a message using different media. Though this text would perhaps be woefully inadequate in today’s English 1000 class, it can prepare students to tackle multi-media projects in a thoughtful and effective way.

Conclusion: I don’t plan to use this text at this time, though I think sections could be extremely valuable for students working on projects with visual components. I may use excerpts when I teach intro-level folklore classes, in order to help students create effective presentations.

What I liked:

· Full color pictures

· Examples of effective visual communication

· Examples of how to remedy ineffective or confusing communication

· Size

· Price ($18.95)

· Addresses multiple document types (including presentations and brochures), some of which often get ignored

· Very, very practical

· Contains activities that could be homework assignments

What I didn’t like:

· Little to no practical writing instruction

· Activities are not very exciting

· Seemed to sacrifice content for style

· Some information may become quickly dated