To the Student

Worker, family member, citizen—in all your roles, it is more important than ever to write well. To get even an entry-level job, you must write a résumé. To create your own job, you may write a job proposal or grant application, or—like a student I collaborated with recently—sales letters to promote a small home-office business (in this case, selling perfume). You may fax messages to order lunch. Via the Internet, you may e-mail family members half a world away. As a volunteer, you may keep minutes for the minor hockey league.

Writing is judged against four standards. The judging begins the moment readers set eyes on your document. Readers form a favourable or unfavourable first impression based on the appearance of your document. After they begin to read, they begin to evaluate the content—do you make sense? Next, readers are pleased by well-organized writing and frustrated by badly organized documents. Finally, readers are distracted by any deviations from standard written Canadian English—the language they expect of educated people.

You are among the most diverse group of students who have ever attended college. Seated with you are students who have written letters to the editor, people who have submitted grant applications to buy books for the school library, and citizens who have started petitions. Write of Way shows you how to research and write brief essays; then, via the Write of Way Web pages (http://www.prenticehall.ca/rogers), it helps you write other kinds of documents—and more. It teaches you to write documents with appropriate content (C), efficient organization (O), standard written Canadian English (S), and a pleasing appearance (A)—the components of the COSA formula for excellent writing—and is the foundation of Write of Way, a textbook specifically written for Canadian students.

How do you know whether this is the right book to help you write better? Well, have you understood this introduction? If you have, you read well enough to learn everything else in this book. Have you left a note to tell a family member where to reach you? Have you written answers to teachers’ test questions? If you can already write that well, you are ready for Write of Way. Are you confident you can write an MLA-style research essay? Do your pronouns always agree in number with their antecedents? If you answered “no” to either of these questions, then Write of Way can help you write better.

Write of Way presents the COSA formula as an orderly, logical procedure for improving writing. Do you want to improve your writing in the fastest, most efficient way possible? Get help from a teacher who will coach you and critique your writing, and use Write of Way to study topics indicated by your teacher. Study precisely how to write better by improving the content, organization, standard written Canadian English, and appearance of your writing.
Employers want workers who take charge of their own professional development. College teachers want to help students learn to teach themselves. Write of Way makes it easier to transform yourself into a better writer. You will find many exercises to practise what you study. Try to answer each question. Then, see how your answer compares to the text. (If you see a star beside an activity number, you can find the answers in Appendix B.) You can study precisely what you need to know, test yourself, and assess your understanding by correcting your own work.

Beginning with the introduction, Write of Way shows you specific ways to improve your writing. Use the book to learn to write better. Use it as a reference manual when you need to remind yourself about how to use the comma or write a research essay. Use your new knowledge and skills to help someone else learn to write well, perhaps a nephew or daughter. As you plan your career—and your life—in the age of the information revolution, you will need to write proficiently, or yield the right of way to others more skilled.