I would recommend this text to any undergraduate college instructor interested in developing and teaching a writing course that centers on using qualitative research methods to investigate, examine, reflect, and write about personal experiences. The strength of the text derives from how it can be used and the author includes precise and carefully considered “approaches anyone can use to explore their communities and write about them first-hand” (Tombro). Of particular use to a writing instructor is the step-by-step presentation of the author’s research methods that “can be used for a single assignment in a larger course or to guide an entire semester through many levels and varieties of informed personal writing” (Tombro).

The text is clear and concise methodically laying out the steps necessary to complete a semester long project. Of particular value is the clarity of the assignments and how they build on one another helping to guide students through a sophisticated and challenging process.

Carole Deletiner earned a PhD in English Education at New York University. Until her retirement in 2014, she taught a variety of writing and literature courses at the college level for more than twenty-five years.