What Is Good Writing?

Though we all think we know what good writing is when we see it, it's difficult to define it precisely; and without a satisfactory definition, it becomes problematical to assess as well as to teach. In What Is Good Writing?, Geoffrey J. Huck advances the contemporary debate on writing achievement by drawing on empirical research in linguistics and the other cognitive sciences that shed light on the development of fluency in language. The utility of defining "good writing" as "fluent writing" or writing that is on par with the typical fluency in speech attained by normal adults, is demonstrated by the progress it permits in evaluating the success of current writing programs in school and university--programs which, for the most part, have proved unable to deliver writing assessments that are both valid and reliable. Huck advances an alternative approach that rests on more scientific footing. He explains why reading is key to good writing and why standard composition programs often do not live up to their aspirations.

Geoffrey J. Huck teaches in the Writing Department at York University in Toronto. He is coauthor of Ideology and Linguistic Theory: Noam Chomsky and the Deep Structure Debates and coeditor of Syntax and Semantics 20: Discontinuous Constituency. He also writes mystery novels under the pen name Morty Guggenmoose.

Preface
Prologue

Part I Conceptual Introduction
1. Historical Background
2. A Cognitive Approach to Good Writing

Part II Fluency
3. Constructional Fluency
4. Pragmatic Fluency
5. Narrative Fluency
6. Graphemic Fluency
Part III Form & Content
7. Figurative Language
8. Surprise, Repetition, and Complexity
9. Verbal Art and Craft

Conclusion

Epilogue
Bibliography
Endnotes
Index