Describes the effects of two prewriting strategies for the generation and storage of ideas (external storage and heuristic) on freshman English students' compositions in honors and basic writing classes. Both honors and remedial students produced the best essays when writing under conditions closely approximating their usual prewriting behavior.…

The study described in this article sought to compare the effects of English language brainstorming activities with similar activities conducted in French in terms of their effects on the coherence of compositions drafted by intermediate-level college French students. (Author/VWL)

A two-part study manipulated structure demands (sequencing ideas, forming sentences, and complying with punctuation/spelling mechanics) in a persuasive writing task to measure the resulting effects on content operations (generating arguments/propositions). In part one of the study, 40 graduate students wrote preliminary and final drafts in one of…

To evaluate the use of semantic organizers as a means of improving the prewriting techniques of composition students, a study was made of two separate groups of college freshman composition students during an intensive, five-week writing workshop. Data were also collected from case studies of students in the experimental group, including frequent…

Describes study that investigated the effects of well-designed computer-assisted instruction (CAI) versus poorly designed CAI on college students' computing behavior, quality of prewriting, and attitudes toward the instruction. Comparisons are made with paper versions of both CAI displays, and guidelines for CAI design are presented. (38…

A study examined the relationship of writing method (cognitive strategies, tools, work scheduling, environment, and rituals) to productivity in 121 science and engineering faculty when writing technical documents such as journal articles. (MSE)