(What to Write, How to Write It, and Why)

The Common Sense is elemental and beautifully succinct. It focuses on the expository essay, which, despite its association with abominable teaching techniques and vapid results, is at its best the one form that reveals to students and teachers the power of writing. "It is not second-rate writing," Deen and Ponsot state, "nor is teaching it second-rate work."

This is a commonsensical text that puts its principles directly at the service of upper secondary and college students of all abilities. It perceives the composing class as an active community of writers, stresses the uses of listening and reading aloud, and lays out a core of work that can't be done wrong.