In this article, the author shares how a simple writing assignment sharpens students' minds and challenges their biases. He asks his students to go find a place on campus where they can comfortably sit down, a place where anybody associated with the school can go and without leaving this spot to write for 30 minutes, nonstop, about everything they…

The effects of progress feedback on university students' writing mastery goal, self-efficacy beliefs, and writing performance were examined in this experiment. Students in the experimental condition (n = 42) received progress feedback on their writing assignment, whereas students in the control condition (n = 44) received feedback without progress…

The purpose of this study was to compare scores on writing assignments from traditional, fully online courses in technical writing to pilot, hybrid courses at a southern university. A total of 232 students' assignments were compared in this study. All writing assignments were scored by six trained instructors of English using the same five point…

The language shortcuts used in text messages are becoming evident in students' academic writing assignments. This qualitative study sought to determine if the use of the shortcuts has an adverse impact on developmental students' spelling and grammar skills. This research was based on the constructivist theory, which rationalizes that students use…

Many teachers would like to counter what Deborah Tannen calls "The Argument Culture." They recognize that teaching students traditional principles of argument may perpetuate the kind of adversarial thinking that erupts all too often: in aggressive newspaper headlines, on confrontational television shows, in court rooms, and in school…

Offers five tips from writing teachers on writing activities that work well in their classrooms. (SR)

This paper describes a writing assignment given in an introductory literature class at an open-admissions university. In what can be called "the paper of many parts," students write six short pieces in which they do different things with a poem. The paper begins and ends with response statements: an initial one and one at the end that…

Describes a writing exercise with the "Oxford English Dictionary" that teaches students about research and attention to detail. Describes how the exercise, which involves the student in a set of serial tasks, makes students comfortable with the OED, teaches them how to extract full details of any word, and teaches students to take…

Describes the work of Barrett Wendell, a composition teacher at Harvard in the late 19th century, giving particular attention to his idea of writing themes--short writing assignments on topics students choose themselves. Reviews one particular student's struggle with Wendell's writing themes. Examines Wendell's political challenges at Harvard as a…

Describes a simple introductory in-class writing assignment that serves to clarify the multiple issues involve in effective letter writing of the persuasive type. Examines the diagnostic value, the lesson learned, and objectives served by such an assignment. (KEH)

Discusses the class-related logbook, a semester-long writing assignment that focuses on teaching the process of using regular writing as a powerful professional tool apart from the formal documents required on the job. (WRM)

Intended for college students and other writers, this book contains a detailed, step-by-step description of the writing process, from prewriting and brainstorming to polishing the mechanics of a final draft. The book is divided into five major sections. Part 1 is a broad introduction to the natural language attitude toward learning to write. Part…

A study used comparison-group methods to examine the effectiveness of dialogic journal writing in a content area classroom. Subjects were students in a sophomore-level course in Chinese literature at the University of California, San Diego. Students were divided into three comparison groups each of which was further divided into sections. Four…

Though popular in the late 70s and early 80s, the instructional technique of sentence combining attracts little support today, even though practice has proven that teaching the processes of combining and expanding sentences can enhance syntactic maturity. A student writer who is made aware of the expectations of form will be prompted to generate…

A technique for starting college students on research paper projects is outlined. The approach, requiring students to begin with a five-minute writing exercise that can form the nucleus of a longer, more intellectually demanding paper involving library work, is felt to stimulate critical thinking and minimize plagiarism. Phased report development…