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December 2011For immediate release

Get ready for exams with reading, writing and reasoning guide

An international best-selling student handbook, co-authored by a Leeds

Metropolitan University professor, which guides students through the

challenging transition from school work to the high academic standards

expected by universities, has been re-launched.

„Reading, Writing and Reasoning: A guide for students‟ by Gavin Fairbairn,

Professor of Ethics and Language at Leeds Metropolitan and Professor

Christopher Winch at King‟s College, London, was first published in 1991 and

is now in its third edition.

The book, published by the Open University Press, aims to guide new

students, those returning to study after time spent in the workplace, and even

teachers and academics themselves, in developing their skills in key areas

including: clear and engaging writing processes, how best to use citations,

demonstrating an understanding of background reading and understanding

written arguments.

Professor Fairbairn commented: “Perhaps what makes this book stand outfrom others most is its emphasis on the need for writers to understand what

helps a text communicate successfully, and its careful and systematic

approach to teaching new academics to make good use of citation. However,

it is also distinctive in its emphasis on the need for students, and for all

academics for that matter, to develop strong skills and disciplines as readers,

both so that they can make good use, as writers, of the time they spend

reading, and so that they can effectively read and redraft their own work.

Previous editions of Reading, Writing and Reasoning have been received well

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by experienced academics in a wide range of disciplines, who have found it

helpful in developing their own writing, as well as in working with students. In

the end the book‟s success will probably depend on its style, which is light -

hearted and easy to understand.” 

Alongside the discussion of problems that all academic writers share is a

wealth of advice about ways of developing good skills, supported by examples

and by opportunities to practice skills through carefully structured tasks.

Professor Fairbairn has published widely in relation to applied philosophy and

ethics in, for example, health and social care, as well as having published

other books about academic literacy over the past twenty years, including

Reading at University; Writing your Abstract, and Becoming an Author .

Ends

Copies of the book are available for review. To receive a copy, or for further

details, please contact Carrie Braithwaite in the Communications team at

Leeds Met on 0113 812 3022 or email c.braithwaite@leedsmet.ac.uk 

Notes for editors:

Leeds Metropolitan University has over 15,000 students and around 3,

000 staff.

The Vice Chancellor of Leeds Metropolitan University is Professor

Susan Price and the Chair of the Board is Lord Woolmer of Leeds.

  Leeds Metropolitan‟s four faculties are: Arts, Environment and

Technology, Business & Law, Health and Social Sciences, and

Carnegie.

  Leeds Metropolitan‟s heritage can be traced back to the founding of the

Mechanics Institute in Leeds in 1824.

International students rated the University top in the UK for language

support, accommodation quality and learning spaces in the 2010

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Autumn Wave of the International Student Barometer and sixth in the

world for the quality of its lectures. We have over 1,500 international

students from 122 countries around the globe.

  The University‟s award-winning learning environments include

Broadcasting Place, which was voted the best tall building in the world

in 2010 by the Chicago-based Council on Tall Buildings and Urban

Habitat (CTBUH) and also winner of the 2010 Leeds Architecture

Awards New Building category.