Style and Difference
by Donna Gorrell
Category: Education

Ideal for students in upper-level composition, literature, or creative writing courses, this brief style guide gives practical advice on how students with basic grammar knowledge can produce writing with style (and with the correctness that matters) for both academic and professional purposes. Style and Difference advises students how to incorporate style and to bend grammar rules appropriately and effectively. With the aid of examples from nearly 100 contemporary published writers, Style and Difference shows how good writing style differs from, as well as conforms to, the established conventions and rules of writing. Style and Difference offers instructors flexibility in their syllabi: this text can be used as a supplement to a handbook or instead of a handbook; chapters can be paired or used in any sequence; and the readings in Part V, Writers on Style, lend themselves to discussions about style that are appropriate at any time during the term. All chapters—both conventional and contra-conventional—offer examples of how other writers apply various elements of style. Selections feature a wide range of writers and include excerpts from Gather Together in My Name by Maya Angelou, A History of Pi by Petr Beckmann, A History of Reading by Alberto Manguel, and The New Meaning of Treason by Rebecca West. Other featured writers include Rachel Carson, John Kenneth Galbraith, Stephen Jay Gould, and Barbara Tuchman. Academic journal examples, written, edited, and read by teachers of writing, show that academic writing looks very much like published nonfiction, making good academic writing more accessible and achievable to students. Students can improve their own academic writing using these journal examples as models. The text-specific student web site features student resources on style, links to online grammar and style sites, and a sample student paper on style analysis. The instructor site provides suggested answers to practices, a discussion of Part V questions, suggested writing assignments, a sample syllabi, and resources on style.