Based on the Protocol Aided Revision (PAR) system, this series of instructional units employs user protocols to provide the writer with feedback about a reader's response to a text and to help the writer become more sensitive to textual problems that may interfere with a reader's understanding. Geared to professionals who write on the job, the…

Reports a protocol study of a freshman composition student to examine how significant a problem it actually is to learn to operate a computer, how influential students' expectations about computers are, whether the use of a computer promoted the importance of invention strategies, and whether computers encourage revision. (MS)

Although there are many retrospective accounts from teachers and professional writers concerning the effect of computers on their writing, there are few real-time accounts of students struggling to simultaneously develop as writers and cope with computers. To fill this void in "testimonial data," a study examining talking-aloud protocols from a…