Since its initial publication, Writing about Writing has empowered tens of thousands of students to investigate assumptions about writing and to explore how writing works. It does so by making writing itself the subject of inquiry. Unique to Wardle and Downs’ approach, the text presents “threshold concepts” about writing―central ideas that writers need to understand in order to progress. As they come to a deeper understanding of these threshold concepts, students are able to transfer their understanding to any writing situation they encounter.

This new edition has been refined and improved based on input from instructors using the text. Now with more explicit instruction to support academic writers, a new Part One explains the value of investigating writing, introduces threshold concepts and the notion of transfer, details the elements of genre and rhetorical reading, and offers a guide for conducting writing studies research at a level appropriate for undergraduates. The readings chapters have been updated and streamlined, and as in past editions they are supported with introductions, scaffolded questions, and activities. An extensive Instructor’s Manual by teacher-trainer Matt Bryan provides support for teaching with a writing-about-writing approach.