We evaluate the use of a Virtual Exchange (VE) writing task, Stimulus Writing, which we assigned to groups of UK and Finnish business students. There were two learner cohorts in the study: one in the UK (mainly Chinese students), the other in Finland (mainly Finns). The Finnish students wrote authentic case studies about Nordic businesses, while…

Teaching scientific writing in biology classes is challenging for both students and instructors. This article offers and reviews several useful "toolkit" items that improve student writing. These include sentence and paper-length templates, funnelling and compartmentalisation, and preparing compendiums of corrections. In addition,…

Argues for the use of case studies in writing instruction and presents a sample case study designed for either technical writing or business communication courses. (AEA)

Solves the problem of student diversity in technical writing courses by proposing a thematic approach to course content, with appropriate materials arranged in a classroom library of case studies. (RL)

The case method seems particularly useful in helping college students to overcome anxiety about writing and even in persuading them that writing is a "real-world" skill that they can master just as they would any other skill. It has the further advantages of integrating reading and writing and of allowing students to develop and use…

A case study writing exercise used in a course on parasitology was found to be a powerful learning experience for students because it involved discipline-based technical writing and terminology, brought the students in as evaluators, applied current learning, caused interaction among all students, and simulated real professional activities. (MSE)