Writing examples, opportunities to learn about and produce academic prose, and sequenced assignments that increase in complexity help students build their ability to fulfill academic assignments as high as the university and graduate school levels. Examples of good (and poor) student compositions, written by native and non-native speakers of English, enrich all three books.

The Reid hallmark of peer interaction with partners, small groups, and entire classes is an important feature of the books.

This book takes students step-by-step through all the processes of academic writing, including audience analysis, choosing and focusing on a topic, generating ideas through pre-writing, and organizing information.
-- Helps students build skills with writing examples, opportunities to learn and practice writing academic prose, and sequenced assignments.
-- De-emphasizes the importance of discrete grammar points while still covering the necessary basics.
-- Encourages classroom interaction through collaborative and group work assignments.
-- Employs a writing-reading approach to build student background knowledge.