Investigates the types of processes used by journalistic writers when producing texts of varying constraints. Finds that news story writers paused more often and carried out more activities per writing session than did editorial writers, suggesting greater monitoring activity by news story writers. (MS)

The annotated titles in this bibliography are intended to introduce the novice to current or significant work on the application of cognitive psychology methodologies to the writing process. The bibliography is arranged in four sections: (1) an overview of the topic that includes anthologies, essays and papers; (2) relevant publications of Linda…

This paper argues for a dialectical conception of theory that avoids the problem of trying to yoke together theories that embody conflicting epistemological and idealogical concerns in any unified way. Called a "cognitive-social epistemic," this dialectic is a theoretical construct that subsumes a family of cognitive and social theories…

A study investigated what fourth grade students understand about composing personal narrative discourse. Specifically, the study explored what the subjects understood about structuring personal narrative texts and about evaluating a narrated experience for an audience. Subjects were 13 fourth grade students, and the methodology consisted of…

Intended for junior high and high school writing instructors, this booklet provides prewriting activities designed to help students master the thinking strategies essential to effective written communication. The first portion of the booklet discusses theory and research on the role of thinking strategies in writing and gives an overview of the…

Replies to Steinberg's article on protocol analysis in this issue and argues that even if the writing process is a problem-solving process, it is too complex to analyze sufficiently using protocols. (SRT)

Describes an informal classroom research project that explored how children perceive the changes they make in their writing and what they think about when they write. (HTH)

Concludes that readers recall syntactic subjects very poorly. Suggests that to understand more precisely how readers represent such subjects in memory, new and rich models of language and of possible domains in text will be needed. (FL)

Elementary school students evaluated compositions that had been written by peers, then discussed the factors upon which their rankings were based. Results indicate that the bases for evaluation fall into four categories: feelings aroused by text, responses to surface features, responses to text as understood, and responses to craftsmanship. (FL)

Considers four issues that arise from work on origin and evolution of writing: (1) the functions of writing, (2) influence of writing and writing systems on the writer, (3) role of writing topic on writing, and (4) writing and the decontextualization of knowledge. Also considers the implications of these issues for research on and the teaching of…

Analyzes the writing processes of a businessman-engineer and discovers that not all of the generalizations about composing are borne out in the way the subject writes. (FL)

Examines ERIC materials on the nature of and supporting the use of invented spelling in elementary school writing. (HTH)

Follows from a previous investigation into the impact of guidance given in writing tasks when 600 eleven-year-olds completed writing tasks with varying content and structural support. Probes children's thinking as they face a writing stimulus and plan their writing. Investigates whether the support facilitated better writing and if the nature of…

Examines the relationship of construct differentiation and conceptual level to four features of argument design: number of arguments produced, coordinated conception of the problem, coordinated defense of the proposal, and diversity of stock issue covered. Finds that construct differentiation was positively associated with all four measures of…

Presents an interview with Linda Flower, discussing her research on the cognitive processes of student writers and on collaborative planning, and the place of composition research in the university. (SR)