About our authors Richard Johnson-Sheehan is a professor of rhetoric and composition at Purdue University. At Purdue, he has directed the Introductory Composition program and he has mentored new teachers of composition for many years. He teaches a variety of courses in composition, professional writing and writing program administration, as well as classical rhetoric and the rhetoric of science. He has published widely in these areas. His prior books on writing include Writing Today, now in its 4th edition, Technical Communication Today, now in its 6th edition, and Writing Proposals, now in its 2nd edition. Professor Johnson-Sheehan was awarded 2008 Fellow of the Association of Teachers of Technical Writing and has been an officer in the Council for Writing Program Administrators. He was also awarded the Jay R. Gould Award for Excellence in Teaching by the Society for Technical Communication in 2017.

Charles Paine is a professor of English at the University of New Mexico, where he teaches undergraduate courses in first-year, intermediate, and professional writing as well as graduate courses in writing pedagogy, the history of rhetoric and composition and other areas. At UNM, he is director of the Rhetoric and Writing Program and the First-Year Writing Program. He is an active member of the Council of Writing Program Administrators and has served on its Executive Board and other committees. His prior books on writing include The Resistant Writer, Writing Today (now in its 4th edition), and his coedited collection of essays, Teaching with Student Texts. He cofounded and coordinates the Consortium for the Study of Writing in College, a joint effort of the National Survey of Student Engagement and the Council of Writing Program Administrators.