Designing Writing

An innovative brief guide, Designing Writing shows students how to use principles of visual rhetoric in composing their own documents. Part One, “Designing for Effect,” illustrates how design works with writing to achieve a variety of purposes; Part Two, “Understanding Design Elements,” introduces the basic elements of document design; and Part Three, “Composing Public Documents,” guides students through the process of designing essays, articles, brochures, flyers, multimedia presentations, and Web sites. Also included are exercises, checklists for each genre, and sidebar tips for using technology to design documents.

Mike Palmquist, professor of English at Colorado State University, is recognized nationally for his work in computer-supported writing instruction and, in particular, for his work in designing Web-based instructional materials to support writing. His most recent Web-based projects are The Writing Center at Colorado State University (http://writing.colostate.edu), the largest site on the Web supporting writing and writing instruction, and academic.writing (http://aw.colostate. edu/index.html), a new scholarly journal supporting interdisciplinary approaches to communication across the curriculum. He also designed, wrote, and coded the Bedford/St. Martin's English Research Room (http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/english_research/), a collection of tools and strategies for research writers. Palmquist has directed Colorado State University's composition program and has co-directed the University's Center for Research on Writing and Communication Technologies. In 1999 he was the recipient of the N. Preston Davis Award for Instructional Innovation, an award given annually to one CSU faculty member or academic program in recognition of instructional innovation.