The Student's Only Survival Guide to Essay Writing

Britta Santowski is a freelance writer in Victoria, B.C.

This dense text on academic essay writing painstakingly guides students
through the appropriate steps. The first eight chapters concentrate on
essay writing in the arts, from “Defining Your Audience” to
“Writing the Research Paper.” The ninth chapter, “Writing Across
the Disciplines,” covers in a mere 14 pages essay writing for the hard
sciences, computer science, and law. Appendices identify common errors
in students’ essays, and there are some valuable writing exercises at
the end of each section.

Tight margins, condensed text, and intricate formulas and diagrams make
the book less than user-friendly. Also daunting is some of the content.
The authors frequently give examples from students’ essays to display
both faulty writing and the “improved” product. A typical
pronouncement: “This essay is quite good, despite some flaws relating
to the broadness of the thesis, wordiness, and some potential
organization problems.” One gets the impression that no undergraduate
will ever reach the standard of writing expected by these two
authorities. Far from guiding students through the essay writing
process, this book might induce crippling insecurities.