Disclosure: I received this product free through the Homeschool Review Crew.
For years, we’ve done the majority of our writing lessons by editing original writing. We haven’t found a curriculum that suits the unique needs of my kids, but by reading great literature and using it as mentor texts and then writing in many different styles, they’ve both become great writers. Where we sometimes need a bit of extra help, though, is in complex grammar situations – especially where their competitive writing is concerned.
That’s why we were excited for the opportunity to review the Excellence in Literature Handbook for Writers from Everyday Education. With half of the book dedicated to sample writing and the other half focused on mechanics, it sounded like the perfect fit for our needs.
During the review period for this book, My Big Helper was researching and writing her entry for National History Day – a historical paper about the work of Elizebeth Friedman, a cryptanalyst who has been credited with saving the United States from Nazi attack, as well as many other things. Now in high school with a great NHD track record, My Big Helper well knows how to structure this type of paper – but there are always unusual grammar issues that arise, and this book became our first go-to during this period.
Because that was our purpose, we didn’t really need the first part of the book. If My Big Helper were just starting her NHD journey, this might have been a fabulous resource as it details how to write a research paper, how to develop a thesis, deductive versus inductive reasoning, how to create an outline, etc. If your student needs step-by-step directions about how to develop a paper from the very beginning, then this should have everything that you need.
There are also sections about how to write about literature – about how to write papers that analyze different types, like essays or poetry. These are really detailed and structured, but it also includes how to do simpler things well, like write a book report. If you have a struggling writer who needs structure for all types of writing, I can see the Excellence in Literature Handbook for Writers as being a must.
I spent the most time with the parts that most directly affected my daughter’s writing. For example, I expect her to consider the reliability of any source she uses for this project, and sources that do not meet high standards can result in an entry being criticized. I looked up the section called “Use of Reliable Evidence,” expecting to find information about how students can learn to evaluate potential sources for themselves. Instead, however, what I found was a paragraph about how students should use evidence to formulate their own argument. There wasn’t any information about how to judge the validity of evidence, only that it should be ‘reliable’ without teaching students how to determine that.
This entire section of the book is structured the same way. The headings are in bold and are numbered with the related information in paragraph form following. Sometimes it’s a single paragraph, sometimes as much as a few, even sometimes with literary examples of the point being made, but the information shared seems to take the form of a ‘do-this-or-avoid-that’ informal list. It reads like friends talking over coffee or a college tutor helping a friend at the student union – and if your student has a decent working knowledge of how to write, this may be all that is needed.
Or, if this book is being used by a teacher/parent with good writing and grammar skills who just wants a reference for personal help or to help students become more independent learners (and to reinforce skills already taught!), then this book might be a perfect fit.
Personally, even though I’m a visual learner, I think that trying to learn writing skills from this book would be difficult. I understand that essays are, well … words, but there’s nothing to break up the 400 pages of paragraphs. My brain enjoys seeing charts, diagrams, and pictures. While there are some lists in the citation sections, even simple things like clipart and sentence diagrams – or circles and arrows and lines drawn in the mentor sentences to help demonstrate the concepts being taught – would go a long way to making the text physically ‘friendlier’ to struggling brains.
My Big Helper tried several times to look up information in this book when she was editing her paper; however, the Excellence in Literature Handbook for Writers didn’t contain the answers she needed. None of the information was specific enough for her needs – but then, she needed really specific information, and she was after very exact, technically correct answers.
For the general high school research paper, the information in this book should be really helpful. There is ample instruction on how to transform a blank page – or screen – into a well-written essay on a variety of subjects. I think it would make a great reference book for the general high school student or as an outline for a teacher/tutor about how to teach the research paper process. I especially like that it’s very searchable as that makes a massive book like this much more user-friendly! Don’t take my word for it, though – click here to read more reviews from the Homeschool Review Crew.
