Writing with Confidence , a value-priced developmental writing worktext, provides essential instruction and practice in basic writing skills at the sentence and paragraph level.

The first developmental text to incorporate high-interest, connected discourse subject matter in its exercises, Writing with Confidence retains and expands on this feature. Most chapters pursue a theme throughout the exercises—the dreams and premonitions surrounding the death of Abraham Lincoln; animal facts and oddities; the gustatory achievements of Diamond Jim Brady, the world's greatest eater; the voyage of the Kon-Tiki; and so on.

The text's six-unit structure includes 30 short chapters on the writing process, paragraph organization and development, the shape of the essay, all the rhetorical modes, and all the sentence skills.

The writing chapters are fully process-oriented, showing the development of a paragraph in six steps, from planning and outlining through drafting, revising, editing, and proofreading. Optional collaborative activities are provided in the margins of each chapter. This focus on writing is balanced with equal attention to sentence skills, not only for native speakers of English who need help, but for non-English-dominant speakers as well. ESL boxes provide help for students whose first language is not English, as do the two final chapters of the book, which address troublesome matters such as verb phrases, word order, articles, and prepositions.

The reading-writing connection throughout the book has been expanded, with sixteen additional readings in the last unit of the book, including several written by students. And the popular "Blueprints for Writing" found in the rhetorical chapters have been carried into unit-ending "Blueprints for Success," in which the most important concepts and practices are summarized in graphs and charts.