Come As You Are: Centering the Self in First-Year Writing teaches students to center themselves in their writing and prepares them to meet the demands of college-level communication. Pairing an original collection of essays with a fully scaffolded and ready-to-teach composition course, this book guides students to explore how voice, identity, and academic purpose can and do co-exist.

Across three major writing projects, students are introduced to a process-oriented, experiential approach focused on how institutional histories and rhetorics shape the university. Through academic and public writing, students contribute to this discourse and, thus, actively create the university through their language and experiences.

Projects, which are designed to support students in becoming adaptable and confident writers, include an introduction to each genre, assignment sequences, student models, peer and instructor feedback guides, and reflective prompts.

For instructors, Come As You Are is more than a textbook; it’s a comprehensive first-year writing course.

For students, this text is a reminder that writing originates from the self and reflects intentional choices, revealing that every aspect of writing is a deliberate act shaped by the writer’s presence and purpose.