Reading Rhetorically was one of the books required for a class I took a few years back, and I must say, it has really opened my eyes to the writing process and I've depended on books like this to get me back into that mental mood that is the process of writing. Reading and writing have such an important connection--much more so than we think-- and this book makes the theory behind that evident with substantial reasoning and examples. However, I don't mean to say that is all theory; practical evidence and advice is included on how to become a more effective writer, and strategies a person can use immediately. Reading Rhetorically is an amazing book in that it gives writer's ideas on how to have a stronger voice embedded within their writing.
An easy format to follow and "reader friendliness" make this an accessible reference book. Each chapter is outlined with details about where it is headed. Chapter 1 and 2 give some background into what it means to read rhetorically, defining it. It gives tips on pursuing an author's voice, mood and purpose while we read. In short, the author explains the critical point of digging for not only comprehension, but everything about an article, passage, chapter or book. Chapter 3 and 4 explore listening and questioning strategies while we read; that is, being an active reader who participates while reading. Several strategies illustrated are annotating a text, highlighting difficult parts of a passage, marking unfamiliar terms, and noting organizational signals to help you see where the article is heading. They also offer a checklist of items to think about while writing a summary, as well as help writing a rhetorical précis, a four-sentence analytical summary that is an indispensible tool for high school and college students (colleges now require these). Chapter 4 focuses on questioning a text, which basically means to question the author's credibility, logic, and persuasive, emotional appeals, which includes their style or implied message. The reader gets steps to help them draw conclusions about a text, but to also detect an "unspoken" or implied message from an article or text. Finally, chapters 5 and 6 help you to take these strategies of reading rhetorically and form your own argument while conducting and producing research papers. Information such as evaluating a source, strategies for managing your writing process, thoughts on generating ideas, an critiquing your own writing are offered in an editing checklist. Also, there is a section on how to paraphrase, direct quote and summarize in your paper to make it more effective and avoid plagiarism as well as an excellent section about parenthetical citations and building an MLA works cited page.
In each chapter, there are several easy to read and understand charts that illustrate what the author is discussing. For instance, in chapter 3 there are checklists for composing a summary and evaluating a summary, a rubric of sorts for you to use. In the appendix, there is a sample works cited page along with instructions on how to set it up.
This book covers such a wide range of information about reading and writing that you will have literally a wealth of knowledge by the time you are done reading. It is a handy reference book that you will come back to many times, so don't let the cost of the book throw you off. I highly recommend this third edition, as it has a better format, more visuals, and examples to help you than the previous two.
A must for any college student, or anyone required to do academic writing!
