Intended for college students, this book of readings, exercises, and advice focuses on issues of special relevance to college students and the general tasks of writing in college. The book is divided into eight sections, each of which contains a "classic" essay, a student essay, and a how-to essay, as well as 8 to 10 other essays on the general theme of the section. The first section, "The Higher Learning: A Freshman Orientation," addresses the issues of college education in a collection of 11 essays. The second section, "Reading and Writing: Language as Liberal Education," addresses the functions that language and writing skills in college fulfill. Each succeeding section emphasizes a particular writing task and combines that task with a particular topic. The section titles are:"Relationships: Writing on Personal Experience"; "Life on and off Campus: Reporting Information"; "The Life of the Mind: Analysis and Interpretation"; "Entertainment and Popular Culture: Writing for Appreciation and Judgment"; "Careers and the Curriculum: Explanation and Evaluation"; and "Issues and Ethics: Writing for Argument and Persuasion." Each section ends with the how-to essay, and in each of these, a famous writer offers consice advice on some particular aspect of the general tasks students often face in freshman composition. Each essay is followed by a series of questions structured to stimulate reading, discussion, and writing by inviting further personal responses to issues and themes, by covering matters of technique relevant to both the particular category of the essay's section and to general writing strategies, and by comparing the essay with others in the section and in the book. Two writing assignments follow each selection--one generally for a shorter exercise and one for a longer paper. (MG)