The role of computing in enhancing scholarly writing and in building student writing skills is examined, with particular reference to the social scientist's needs at the college level. Word processing, outlining, and hypertext software types are appraised in terms of their impact on writing processes, and, while strengths of each are noted, each is found to be limited in relation to organizing ideas, which is a critical aspect of writing in the social sciences and other areas. Software that is more salient to writing objectives requires an integration of database with word processing software. The management of "ideabases" is identified as the basis for a new type of software of this integrated type. Software designed by this author for classroom purposes is described. "The Writer," which is available for IBM compatible computers, allows the student or scholar to develop and work with an outline and store notes in a database that can be transferred into the final product. There are four menus that include main, note, outline edit, and output menus, and these menus and examples of their use are reproduced in this document. A 27-item bibliography is included. (Author/DJC)