No duh Stuff in Handbooks

Here's some observations from writers of handbooks--the kind of stuff that gives us all great faith in the writers of these boring compendiums:

No one is born knowing how to write. (Nancy Packer & John Timpane)

Writing is not a natural act. (Patricia Taylor)

The mental processes that actually accompany the writing process are
tremendously complex. (Andrea Lunsford & Robert Connors)
The brain is truly the wonder of this world . . . (Patricia Taylor)

Your mind already holds a variety of ideas about any subject you choose to write on. (John Hodges & Mary Whitten)

Of course, your memory, like a computer, will be only as good as what you put into it. (Anne Ruggles Gere)

No one learns or writes in a vacuum. (John Elder)

But writing, as you know, is not plane geometry or biology or accounting. (Linda Stanley, David Shimkin, & Allen Lanner)

Good writing makes a special contribution to success in college and on the job. (Rise Axelrod & Charles Cooper)

A significant part of any college education involves reading and writing, two primary means of sharing knowledge. (Andrea Lunsford & Robert Connors)

. . . successful college students are those who can read, write, and think effectively in the academic areas they will explore. (Anne Bradstreet Grinois)

Because modern life is so complicated, there are many barriers to full expression. (Robert Scholes & Nancy Comley)

The need to generate ideas can surface at any time while you are writing, drafting, revising, or editing. (Richard Gebhardt & Dawn Rodrigues)

So, too, you can search for topics in the books and magazines that happen to be within easy reach. (Frederick Crews & Sandra Schor)

Solicit divine inspiration, if possible. (Elizabeth McMahan)

We are the words we write. We become the words we read. (Eric Gould, Robert DiYanni, and William Smith)

You need to decide why a specific subject fascinates you (why you are attracted to quiz shows that give away money) . . . (Anne Ruggles Gere)

A writer must begin, of course, by choosing a subject to write about. (Robert Scholes & Nancy Comley)

Planning is an orderly procedure that brings about a desired result. (John Trimmer & James McCrimmon)

However you organize your material, a time comes when you must start drafting. (Nancy Packer & John Timpane)

Drafting is the central part of writing--the one element in the process that can never be skipped or avoided. (Andrea Lunsford & Robert Connors)

Although different authors view writing as having either three stages (prewriting, drafting, revising) or five stages (collecting, focusing, arranging, writing, revising), this chapter will describe composition as a process with ten stages. (John McKernan)

So, too, the other "stages of composing" normally leak into one another. (Frederick Crews & Sandra Schor)

To be truly informative, a writer must offer knowledge that readers do not already have. (Robert Brown)

For your papers to say what you mean, the writing has to make sense. (John McKernan)

Good reporting is a faithful, detailed account of something. (Nancy Packer & John Timpane)

A brand-new piece of writing is like a brand-new baby: it looks perfect. (Nancy Packer & John Timpane)

Hand most human beings a baby and they will make faces at it. Why do they do that? (Robert Scholes and Nancy Comley)

Works Quoted

Axelrod, Rise B. and Charles R. Cooper. The St. Martin's Guide to Writing. 2nd ed. New York: St. Martin's, 1988.

Brown, Robert M. Writing for a Reader. Boston: Little, Brown, 1987.

Clouse, Barbara Fine. The Student Writer: Editor and Critic. 2nd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1988.

Connors, Robert J. "Textbooks and the Evolution of the Discipline." College Composition and Communication 37 (May 1986): 177-94.

Crews, Frederick and Sandra Schor. The Borzoi Handbook for Writers. 2nd ed. New York: Knopf, 1989.

Ede, Lisa. Work in Progress: A Guide to Writing and Revising. New York: St. Martin's, 1989.

Elder, John, Jeffrey Schwartz, Betsy Bowen, and Dixie Goswami. Word Processing in a Community of Writiers: An Introduction to Composition. New York: Garland, 1989.

Gebhardt, Richard C. and Dawn Rodrigues. Writing: Processes and Intentions. Lexington, Mass.: D. C. Heath, 1989.

Gere, Anne Ruggles. Writing and Learning. 2nd ed. New York: Macmillan, 1988.

Gould, Eric, Robert DiYanni, and William Smith. The Act of Writing (New York: Random House, 1989.

Grinols, Anne Bradstreet. Critical Thinking: Reading and Writing Across the Curriculum. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1988.

Hammond, Eugene R. Critical Thinking, Thoughtful Writing. 2nd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1989.

Hodges, John C. and Mary E. Whitten. Harbrace College Handbook. 10th ed. New York: Harcourt, 1986.

Kuriloff, Peshe C. Rethinking Writing. New York: St. Martin's, 1989.

Lunsford, Andrea & Robert Connors. The St. Martin's Handbook. Annotated Instructor's Edition. New York: St. Martin's, 1989.

Martin, Marlene. Review and Revise. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1989.

McKernan, John. The Writer's Handbook. New York: Holt, 1988.

McMahan, Elizabeth. A Crash Course in Composition. 4th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1989.

Packer, Nancy Huddleston and John Timpane. Writing Worth Reading: A Practical Guide with Handbook. 2nd ed. New York: Bedford, 1989.

Reinking, James A. and Andrew W. Hart. Strategies for Successful Writing: A Rhetoric, Reader, and Handbook. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice, 1988.

Scholes, Robert and Nancy R. Comley. The Practice of Writing. 3rd ed. New York: St. Martin's, 1989.

Sommers, Jeffrey. Model Voices: Finding a Writing Voice. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1989.

Stanley, Linda C., David Shimkin, and Allen H. Lanner. Ways to Writing: Purpose, Task, and Process. 2nd ed. New York: Macmillan, 1988.

Sullivan, Sally. Vision and Revision: The Process of Reading and Writing. New York: Macmillan, 1988.

Taylor, Patricia Simmons. Writing in College: Style and Substance. Glenview, Ill." Scott, Foresman, 1989.

Trimmer, Joseph F. and James M. McCrimmon. Writing with a Purpose. 9th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1988.

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