The authors--drawing on their varied experiences as authors and publishers of a journal and several book series--provide a historical review and consideration of peer review in publishing. They find that scholarly peer review, from the question of signed reviews to the practices of digital publications, is in the midst of change, but that at the…

In "Bird by Bird", Anne Lamott compares writing to a tea ceremony: "That thing you had to force yourself to do--the actual act of writing, turns out to be the best part. It's like discovering that while you thought you needed the tea ceremony for the caffeine, what you really needed was the tea ceremony. The act of writing turns out to be its own…

Considers a process approach toward the goal of meaningful writing which may aid in positive personal change. Outlines recent criticism of contemporary poetry; argues against tradition and practice of craft in writing poetry. Proposes a means of writing centered on a method of inquiry involving elements of self-involvement, curiosity, and risk to…

None of the theories that inform writing center work--Freudian theory, cognitivism, feminism, postmodernism, current-traditionalism, expressivism, social constructionism, and family systems theory--offer an adequate basis for writing center work. Even when Stephen North proposed "The Idea of a Writing Center" in 1984 (still considered to…

Discusses three measures of process assessment, describing checklists, conferences, and self-assessment that focus on the writing process and what writers do as they write. (SR)

Uses examples from the writing process and critical thinking to illustrate "reification," a habit of mind which rigidifies and reduces a general and fluid process. Advocates reflection as a means to a broader sense of research and teaching and to more direct engagement with the practice of teaching, writing, and learning. (SR)

The general enthusiasm that governs composition studies is the result of more than 20 years of collective efforts to define central issues in theory and research, and to help refocus national attention on composition literacy. The optimistic vision of future challenge and direction in discourse studies is largely premised on Thomas Kuhn's…

Notes that college freshmen are generally inexperienced writers writing on topics about which they are not knowledgeable. Explores college freshmen's concomitant process of acquiring knowledge. Argues that composition should be conceptualized as an interweaving of writing and knowledge acquisition. (RS)

Explains how a teacher teaches process writing in her mainstream high school classes, despite her obligation to cover grammar, literature, vocabulary, research, and communication. Shows how some approaches to process writing can be modified to fit it into a tighter, more structured course. (TB)

Provides discussion and critical analysis of three key models for teaching freshman composition courses. Discusses approaches centered on writing as product, writing as process, and writing as system. Considers what might be the common ground that these three approaches to writing instruction share. (HB)

This instructional note describes the process of rotating teacher participation in peer workshop groups and how this practice can enhance the workshop group dynamics, ease instructors' grading loads, and improve the level of peer feedback and draft revision in composition courses. (Contains 1 end note.)

Peter Medway recounts the beginnings of the language across the curriculum (LAC) movement in Britain in the 1950s and 1960s when teachers were troubled by their encounters with bright but non-academic working-class children who failed in school and yet whose verbal resourcefulness and fertility were an inescapable fact. Thus teachers were led to…

Like the narrator of Robert Frost's poem "Mending Wall," instructors need to ask what is being walled in and walled out of their composition programs when categories such as process vs. product, expressive, epistemic, current traditionalism, and social constructionism are constructed. When divisive categories prevent theorists from…

Argues that the process-conference approach to writing has handed back control of the learning process to the learner and is likely to have far reaching effects on the reading program as well. (HOD)

Notes post-process theories of composition instruction suggest that process is no longer an adequate explanation of the writing act. Explains how post-process theory can contribute to composition pedagogy. Argues that post-process theory encourages educators to reexamine the definition of writing as an activity rather than a body of knowledge,…