Writing to Learn

This is an essential book for everyone who wants to write clearly about any subject and use writing as a means of learning. William Zinsser provides a guided tour of clear expression, gathering models from geologists, biologists, and mathematicians. The volume shows how sequential sentences demystify forbidding disciplines and turn writing into a tool for learning. Classrooms across the country show how regular prose assignments clarify unfamiliar concepts in science and the humanities. Zinsser demonstrates how plain declarative sentences help students in any field reason their way through complex ideas. Writing Across the Curriculum: Faculty at Gustavus Adolphus College in Minnesota share how requiring short essays across seventy-five diverse courses helped chemistry, economics, and nursing students grasp technical material. Case Studies: Math teacher Joan Countryman demonstrates how seventh-grade algebra and twelfth-grade calculus students use journals and narrative letters to overcome math anxiety and solve complex equations. Academic Writing: Passages from scientists such as Albert Einstein, Rachel Carson, and Primo Levi reveal how rigorous thinkers explain relativity, ocean depths, and chemical reactions without academic jargon. Writing Techniques: Zinsser outlines concrete strategies for replacing passive verbs, dismantling bloated bureaucratic jargon, and viewing every draft as an evolving process of rethinking. Also by This Author: On Writing Well, How to Write a Memoir and Speaking of Journalism.