This is the second edition of one of the first process-approach writing books written for lower-level students. The Teacher's Manual contains unit overviews, as well as detailed descriptions of each activity, complete with useful teaching tips. The manual contains some additional material that teachers might use to supplement the Student's Book. A complete answer key to the Student's Book is provided.

One of the unique features of From Writing to Composing is the way it interweaves structured, guided writing activities with freer activities that use a multi-drafting process approach. This unusual combination of features for a high-beginning to low-intermediate writing book is retained in the second edition, along with many of the original, popular, lively, writing activities. However, the new edition does have some major changes. The second edition is now divided into two parts. The first part introduces students to different genres of writing, while each chapter in the second part teaches students how to write a paragraph using different modes of rhetorical organization, such as chronological organization to describe someone's daily routing and enumeration to classify something into its different types. Also, throughout the book students are guided through a semester-long class writing project and are given other projects to do to build a portfolio of their work.