Collaborative Authorship
This book is a remix/mash-up of some of the best open-access and Creative Commons licensed texts that address composition. We have included material from Bad Ideas About Writing edited by Cheryl E. Ball and Drew M. Loewe; Try This: Research Methods For Writers by Jennifer Clary-Lemon, Derek Mueller, and Kate Pantelides; Writing Spaces edited by Dana Driscoll, Mary K. Stewart, and Matthew Vetter; and the Bad Ideas About Writing Podcast by Kyle Stedman. New content has been created for this text by Kate Pantelides. And this particular mashup was curated by Eric Detweiler, Paul Evans, Amy Fant, Amy Harris-Aber, Caroline LaPlue, Nicholas Krause, Candie Moonshower, Kate Pantelides, Erica Stone, and Jennifer Wilson, with generous support from the MTSU Provost’s Office the Tennessee Board of Regents, and the Tenessee Higher Education Council. We wish to extend our sincerest gratitude to all contributors, curators, and donors.
Our Philosophy
Author listings are alphabetical, with the exception of new content developed for this textbook. For new content, we alternate author order to demonstrate the equal nature of our collaboration. One of the central philosophies behind Open Access and Open Educational Resources is the need for and importance of collaboration, as well as the sharing and “remixing” of the best available content. Our text was not written by one or even two authors; rather, it is a collection of a diverse array of viewpoints and writing styles, which, to us, exemplifies one of the many ways that our book is different from a traditional, print, academic textbook. The inclusion of work by multiple authors can also provide a starting point for conversations in writing class about how writing “actually works in the real world” (Wardle and Downs). In sum, we envision this text as a collection that allows instructors and students to use it in any way that complements their local programs and classrooms.
A Note About Citations
This text was written in and chapters have been edited to reflect the 8th edition of MLA.
About the Authors
Eric Detweiler is an associate professor who’s worked and taught at MTSU since 2016. He also directs MTSU’s Public Writing and Rhetoric program. He studies, teaches, and writes about the rhetoric and writing education, podcasting, and video games.
Paul Evans is a lecturer at MTSU who teaches dual-enrollment, first-year writing courses. He earned his M.Ed. and M.A. in English degrees at Belmont University. Paul also serves as Director of the Blakney Foundation, a private organization concerned with emergent and early literacy.
Amy Fant began teaching at MTSU in the Fall of 2016. She earned her M.F.A. in Creative Writing at Emerson College, and has taught English in K-12 schools and higher education since 2007.
Amy Harris-Aber specializes in cultural rhetorics with a concentration in the rhetoric of foodways as cultural discourse. In 2020, she earned her doctorate from MTSU.
Caroline LaPlue joined the English Ph.D. program at MTSU in 2021. She received her M.A. from Aberystwyth University in Wales, and has taught English at the high school and collegiate levels. She serves as a graduate student instructor at MTSU and teaches courses in first-year writing. Caroline’s research interests include Victorian literature, linguistics, and writing and literature pedagogy.
Nich Krause joined the Ph.D. program at MTSU in the Fall of 2020. He was born and raised in the mountainous terrain of Colorado, and he received both his B.A. and M.A. in Philosophy at Colorado State University. Nich is a graduate student instructor who spends much of his time expanding his mind in his primary areas of research, which include film theory, feminist pragmatism, and 20th-century American literature.
Candie Moonshower began as a student at MTSU in 1979 and now enjoys teaching there as a Master Instructor in English. She holds B.A. degrees in English and Philosophy and an M.A. in English Literature from MTSU, and an M.F.A. in Writing from Seton Hill University. She has published books for children and is a frequent contributor to local and national publications, including a recent chapter, “Using Structural Examples to Promote Creativity and Engagement,” for the pedagogical textbook Better Practices. Her research interests include the Vietnam War era and the modern romance genre.
Kate Pantelides is an associate professor at Middle Tennessee State University and served as the Director of General Education English for seven years. She teaches writing, rhetoric, and research classes for undergraduate and graduate students. Her scholarship addresses research methods, feminist rhetorics, and writing program administration. Dr. Pantelides’ work has been published in College Composition and Communication, Composition Studies, Computers and Composition: An International Journal, and Composition Forum, among other venues. She is the co-author of Try This: Research Methods For Writers with Jennifer Clary-Lemon and Derek Mueller.
Erica Stone works at the intersection of technical communication, public rhetoric, and community organizing. Erica’s writing can be found in Kairos: A Journal of Rhetoric, Technology, and Pedagogy; Spark: A 4C4Equality Journal; Community Literacy Journal; Teaching English in the Two Year College; Basic Writing Electronic (BWe) Journal; and various edited collections. In her 2016 TED talk, she urges academics to engage with popular media, publish in open access spaces, and include communities in their research. Read more about her community-based work at www.ericamstone.com.
Jennifer Wilson began teaching English at MTSU in 2006. Prior to joining the English Department, she taught developmental writing as an adjunct. She has an M.A. in English and an M.S. in information systems from MTSU. Currently, she is a doctoral candidate in the Instructional Design and Technology Department at University of Memphis. She teaches first-year writing and sophomore literature courses.
Creative Commons Licensing
This book is licensed under Creative Commons as CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0.
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