Discusses the pedagogical consequences that follow from distinguishing invention from prewriting. Contrasts the importance of stasis in invention, and the resulting importance of writing with an audience in mind, with prewriting techniques that merely direct students toward exploring a topic without reference to an audience. (RL)

Describes method in which students write a draft requiring some writing skill before learning about that skill. Concludes that predrafting (1) enforces first-drafting; (2) shows students their natural writing abilities; (3) emphasizes discovery of substance first, rules and form second; (4) promotes an active student role; (5) arranges learning in…

Explores the mental processes involved in preparing to write. (FL)

Argues that students need invention strategies as well as introspection to collect information and make sense of it, but they also need instruction in discriminating among invention strategies and help in choosing the best strategy for a given writing task. Three overlooked strategies are research, collaboration, and form. (RS)

By engaging in philosophical discussion in their writing, freshman composition students can discover that writing is a mediating tool between the self and the objective world, a means to examine the nature of reality and their thinking processes. Introducing philosophical issues opens the door for the investigation of difficult and abstract topics…

Notes that many preservice teacher education students in a composition methods course confess they did not prewrite seriously in middle and high school, and that many did not prewrite at all. Introduces a technical writer who spends 80% of his writing time in prewriting activities alone. Discusses strategies to help students realize the value and…

Prewriting involves the entire period of time (and necessary activities) which extends between knowing that one is going to write on something and knowing that one has found something specific and substantial to say about it. In classical rhetoric, prewriting is expressed by such terms as "inventio" (whereby the writer discovers ideas to…

Explores various prewriting techniques that can be used to teach thinking skills (e.g., keeping a metaphor journal to teach students to think and write metaphorically; free-writing and focused free-writing; and Plus, Minus, Interesting (PMI) and Alternative Ways of Looking (AWOL) techniques, which teach students to consider both sides of an…

Describes the advantages of using computers during the invention stage of composition. Discusses programs designed for that purpose and explores characteristics of an ideal prewriting computer program. (HTH)

Presents a theoretical model of the writing process and suggests having students create a picture collage as an introduction to the various roles and stages in the writing process. (HTH)

Briefly reviews survey findings on writing achievement, discusses students' difficulties with writing, and suggests that teachers not only provide more opportunities for writing, but help students develop strategies for solving the problems that all writers confront: planning, drafting, revising, and editing. (SJL)

In the area of composition, computer assisted instruction (CAI) must move beyond the limited concerns of the current-traditional rhetoric to address the larger issues of writing, become process-centered, and involve active writing rather than answering multiple-choice questions. Researchers cite four major types of interactive CAI, the last of…

Traces the decline in importance and scope of invention under the prevalent current-traditional approach to rhetoric. Suggests that as a result students are being taught a writing process and a set of assumptions about discourse that have nothing to do with either how writing gets done or with contemporary thinking about the relation of language…

Suggests that perception is most vigorous and thus most amenable to organization when guided by teaching that places creativity before communication. (MM)

Writing is an important tool in teaching skills to adult basic education (ABE) students. To be a successful teacher of writing, teachers must be successful writers. They must be aware of the writing process and willing to use it daily in their own lives in order to convey its importance and its usefulness to their students. One method of teaching…