Includes bibliographical references and index.

An essential question : what is "college-level" writing? / Patrick Sullivan -- Part I. High school perspectives -- Whistling in the dark / Merrill J. Davies -- Am I a liar? : the angst of a high school English teacher / Jeanette Jordan, with Karena K. Nelson ... [et al.] -- The Salem witch trials : voice(s) / Alfredo Celedon Lujan -- The truth about high school English / Milka Mustenikova Mosley -- Part II. College perspectives -- Good enough writing : what is good enough writing, anyway? / Lynn Z. Bloom -- Whose paper is this, anyway? : why most students don't embrace the writing they do for their writing classes / Michael Dubson -- The boxing effect (an anti-essay) / Jeanne Gunner -- What does the instructor want? : the view from the Writing Center / Muriel Harris -- It's not the high school teachers' fault : an alternative to the blame game / Peter Kittle -- What is college writing for? / Ellen Andrews Knodt -- Scripting writing across campuses : writing standards and student representations / Cynthia Lewiecki-Wilson and Ellenmarie Cronin Wahlrab -- From attitude to aptitude : assuming the stance of a college writer / Ronald F. Lunsford -- Do you believe in magic? : collaboration and the demystification of research / Kathleen McCormick -- A community college professor reflects on first-year composition / John Pekins -- Defining by assessing / Edward M. White -- Coming to terms : vocabulary as a means of defining first-year composition / Kathleen Blake Yancey, with Brian M. Morrison -- Part III. Student perspectives -- The great conversation (of the dining hall) : one student's experience of college-level writing / Kimberly L. Nelson -- Putting on the sunglasses : the argumentative thesis as the keystone to "good" college writing / Mike Quilligan -- Bam / Amanda Winalski -- Part IV. Administrative perspectives -- College-level writing : a departmental perspective / James M. Gentile -- A lot like us, but more so : listening to writing faculty across the curriculum / Susan E. Schorn -- The recursive character of college writing / Chris Kearns -- College writing, academic literacy, and the intellectual community : California dreams and cultural oppositions / Sheridan Blau -- Appendix. Continuing the conversation : a dialogue with our contributors.

1