Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. All opinions I have expressed are my own or those of my family. I am disclosing this in accordance with FTC Regulations.
With being part of the Homeschool Review Crew, it has been a blessing to look at and review Excellence in Literature Handbook for Writers from Everyday Education.
I received a free pdf version of the book, and I was shocked to see that it was 420 pages long.
This book is best suited for anyone middle school grade and up, even adults.
It is very clear from the beginning introduction that this is like having two books in one.
The first part deals heavily with how to write persuasively, either for a debate or for essay writing.
The second part is all about writing mechanics.
I’ll tell you about part one first.
This section is 234 pages long. Everyday Education takes the student step-by-step through every single process to be able to verbalize an opinion on a topic.
This book does not have a schedule to follow. There’s no set amount of chapters or pages that the student is required to read in a day. This is a work at your own pace type book.
The text is very easy to read and understand. There are good and bad sample paragraphs and sentences to look at and to compare.
Questions and assignments are given to help the student work through what they are reading about.
The steps in this first part cover: identifying and defining what the actual problem is, setting up an argument based on a narrowed down topic, how to write out your opinion and your reasons for that opinion in a clear, concise manner, and much more.
For any student that is on a debate team or that needs to write persuasively, the processes taught in this book really make you think deep about the topic, and it helps you put your thoughts into a logical, clear manner for presenting.
Part two of the book is where I felt the gold nuggets were.
Everyday Education suggests that when using the book to check for grammatical errors, that instead of marking and fixing the error for the student, that the teacher instead, put the section label on the paper where that grammatical rule is discussed. In this way, the student looks the rule up for themselves, reads it, and then reinforces the rule by fixing it on their own paper.
As I was reviewing this book, this is the process that I followed. It was clear to me, that my daughter was not making the same mistakes twice as she was writing her future papers.
The rules are very easy to understand and there are examples to look at.
Everything is covered:
Phrases, Clauses, and types of Sentences
Slang words
Unnecessary repetition
Freguently misused words like among/between
Basic punctuation
Pronouns
Parallelism or Parallel structure
Modifiers, Gerunds, Infinitives
Clarity, logic, and structure
References & Bibliographies
Basic format for Essays & Research Papers
And soooooo much more!
Here is just one little part of the Table of Contents for Part Two.
There aren’t any assignments to do in this section. This is purely for reference only.
In my opinion, this section is best used when it is printed and placed in a three ring binder for quick and easy access.
I am so glad to have this resource available to help my kids with their own writing, but also to refer to for myself. One day I’ll be able to remember how to place the different punctuation marks correctly with quotation marks!
As for this entire book, I would recommend it to any family with children.
If you would like to follow Everyday Education on social media platforms, here is their information.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/janicepcampbell & https://www.facebook.com/excellenceinlit/
Twitter: https://Twitter.com/EverydayEdu
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jcwords/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com.mx/janicecampbell/
I want to thank the Homeschool Review Crew for allowing me to review Excellence in Literature Handbook for Writers by Everyday Education.
If you want to read more reviews by other homeschool bloggers on the Homeschool Review Crew, just click on the image below.
