The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing

As a graduate student in Psychology I get to read and correct mountains of papers from intro-level classes. Now that I am about to get my degree and start teaching those classes, I realize that students need a book that shows them how to write a sentence. This is the book I have chosen for my Principles of Psychology classes. Harvey's concise style and recognition of the pompous style most young college students choose to write in is enlightening and entertaining. The small book is filled with great examples of what not to do alongside examples of how to fix the problem(s). Even though I have literally decades of technical and academic writing experience, the book has helped me to be more concise and to link my thoughts together in a more readable and efficient way. I highly recommend this book for students and especially for teachers. So what if you are not teaching English - if you require students to write, your students will produce better papers (that you have to read!) after using this book. It's required for my psych class!

I'm a fan of The Elements of Style. I still have the students in my freshman composition class read it each year for its clear, concise guidelines to writing with style.

There are two striking flaws to that book though. First, the writing guidelines appear, too often, to my students as being arbitrary. In The Elements of Style, the logic behind good grammar rules is occasionally neglected in order to keep things brief. Each rule is just the truth because the book says so. Second, style is clearly a product of culture, and a result, the version of style Strunk and White offers fails to be as appropriate today as it once was.

The Nuts and Bolts of College writing amends these two errors. Almost everything in The Elements of Style is present here, too, but Harvey has provided a context sufficient for developing an understanding of these stylistic principles. He organizes the book according to values clearly desirable in writing: clarity, flow, gracefulness, etc. By discussing a principle such "using the active voice" within the context of clarity, Harvey effectively communicates why such an approach produces better writing. It's not just another rule to follow anymore. Additionally, Harvey's examples and his updates to stylistic norms make the book very timely.

In all, it's very handy tool in a writing classroom. I think it's the best of its kind currently available.

Anyone who wants a no nonsense approach for how to write (in general), needs this book. It teaches you how to write clearly and concisely and cuts through all the garbage. The author provides clears examples for what not to do and makes comparisons between good and bad writing. I highly recommend this book.

The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing goes over the fundamentals of good essay writing such as concision, clarity, flow, punctuation, and topic sentence for a paragraph and so on. It is an excellent reference book for college students and writers in general. The book however does not go into term or research paper writing.