Loose Leaf for College Writing Skills with Readings

College Writing Skills with Readings emphasizes writing skills as well as process. The text identifies a set of four fundamental skills that are critical to effective writing:

- Unity: Discover a clearly stated point, or topic sentence, and make sure that all other information in the paragraph or essay supports that point.

- Support: Buttress the points with specific evidence, and plenty of it.

- Coherence: Organize and connect supporting evidence so that paragraphs and essays transition smoothly from one piece of supporting information to the next.

- Sentence Skills: Revise and edit so that sentences are error-free for clearer and more effective communication.

These four bases are essential to all effective writing, whether it be a narrative paragraph for a personal journal, a cover letter for a job application, or an essay for an academic assignment.