Presents findings from 18 reviewed studies with regard to attitude and the quality of writing performance. Discusses pedagogy and the problem of defining basic writers. Suggests research directions that can help move educators toward a new pedagogy. (MG)

Describes a student-centered software package designed at the University of Texas (UT) at Austin to support student writing by helping students generate ideas, improve organization and development, and improve editing capabilities. Describes UT's basic writers and presents findings from the classroom research-based program evaluation. (DMM)

Discusses a study of the effects of first year composition students' use of a microcomputer as a word processor on the quality of their writing. Compares students who used the word processor with those who hand wrote their compositions, revealing greater improvement among the word processing group, regardless of initial skill levels. (PAA)