Part of the Penguin Academics series, The Writer’s Purposes: A Reader for Composition is a rhetorical reader that focuses on reading and writing for specific purposes.
Each chapter in this carefully sequenced reader shows the reader how to read critically and rhetorically for a specific purpose, engages the reader with classic and contemporary essays, and helps the reader navigate the writing process. Author Stephen Reid outlines the specific skills needed for each writing purpose and shows the reader how to adapt a variety of topics to specific audiences and contexts. Short but essential rhetorical guidelines are followed by professional and student essays that model each of the featured purposes: Observing, Remembering, Investigating, Explaining, Evaluating, Problem-Solving, and Arguing. The Writer’s Purposes enables the reader to move from descriptive and narrative writing to expository and argumentative writing.