Academic Writing is a unique introduction to the subject. As the author puts it in her preface, “this book develops from a strong claim: namely, that style is meaningful.” In developing that theme, the author draws meaningfully on theory, especially genre theory, while remaining grounded in the particular. Giltrow presents and discusses examples of actual academic writing of the sort that students must learn to deal with daily, and to write themselves. As newcomers to the scholarly community, students can find that community’s ways of reading and writing mysterious, unpredictable and intimidating. Academic Writing demystifies the scholarly genres, shedding light on their discursive conventions and on academic readers’ expectations and values. Throughout, Academic Writing respects the student writer; it engages the reader’s interest without ever condescending, and it avoids the arbitrary and the dogmatic.

The book also offers abundant exercises to help the student develop techniques for working productively at each stage of the scholarly writing process; mastering and summarizing difficult scholarly sources; planning; and revising to create good working conditions for the reader.

The third edition of Giltrow’s extremely successful book incorporates extensive revisions that integrate the theoretical perspectives of genre theory into the whole of the book in a more organic fashion; the changes are designed to make the book both more attuned to scholarly practice and more accessible to the undergraduate student.

Giltrow’s Academic Reading is designed as an accompanying reader for Academic Writing.

Janet Giltrow's profile page

Janet Giltrow is an Associate Professor in the English Department at the University of British Columbia. Her articles have appeared in such journals as American Literature, Sinn und Form, Style, Technostyle, Studies in the Novel, Modern Language Review, and Technical Writing and Communication, and in collections on feminist narratology, genre theory, and ESL, as well as in collections on other topics in rhetoric and literary studies. She is winner of the 3M Teaching Fellowship.

“In no other composition text have I found as rich an explanation of qualitative research methods—a systematic approach to research and analysis.” — Nancie Burns-McCoy, University of Idaho

“Academic Writing is a superb book. It is steeped in contemporary rhetorical theory, packed with examples of writing in the disciplines, and full of unusual and effective exercises. The book is eminently practical: it helps the reader understand and enter into the discourse of academic life.” — Anthony Pare, Director, Centre for the Study and Teaching of Writing, McGill University