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What Is "College-Level" Writing? Volume 2: Assignments, Readings, and Student Writing Samples edited by Patrick Sullivan, Howard Tinberg, and Sheridan Blau. Urbana: NCTE, 2010. 329 pp.
In the five years since volume 1 of What Is "College-Level" Writing? appeared, its title question has remained on the lips and keyboards of many in our profession. This second volume continues the discussion with focus on "specific and pragmatic questions about first-year college writing" (xii). It includes contributions from high school teachers, two- and four-year college writing faculty, writing center tutors and directors, and students.
The first section enacts the crosssector high school/college dialogue that compositionists often advocate, offering an alternative to shouting matches of "You didn't prepare them!" versus "College writing expectations are unclear!" A representative chapter from the section is a discussion by high school and college writing teachers who have responded to and graded the same essay about the challenges faculty face when students transition from standardized, test-focused writing practice in high school to a more nuanced, varied approach in college. Even acknowledging some difficulties-differing purposes for writing, differing audiences-the teachers remind us that high school and college faculty are partners.
The second section, "The Importance of Writing Assignments," begins with Edward M. White's recent classic "My Five-Paragraph-Theme Theme," which satirizes and encourages us...