Asserts that the complexities peculiar to "bottom-writings" (essays graded at the lower end of a holistic scale) are often overlooked. Analyzes organizational patterns of high-rated, low-rated, and professional writers, noting similarities between the latter two groups. Considers how teachers can work with the skills bottom writers…

A college freshman level sentence-combining treatment consisting of one paragraph rewriting exercise for 12 consecutive weeks resulted in significant gains in average words per clause and words per T-unit. (HOD)

Describes a classification of organizational patterns for whole essays and a method by which both teachers and researchers may use it to analyze student essays. Reports the results of such an analysis applied to a controlled study of undergraduate writing. (HTH)

Investigates gender effects in critique of student writing. Finds that readers spontaneously constructed the author's sex even when they were not informed of it; rated the essays lower when they knew the writer was of their own sex; and showed an anti-male bias (measured by holistic rating) and an anti-feminine bias (measured by attribution of…

Assessment, including writing assessment, is a form of social action. Because standardized tests can be used to reify the social order, local assessments that take into account specific contexts are more likely to yield useful information about student writers. This essay describes one such study, a multiple-measure comparison of accelerated…

A study examined the effects of gender-linked features of writing upon raters' judgments about writing quality. Sixty-four subjects were interviewed: 32 teachers and 32 freshman composition students. Subjects were asked to evaluate two essays, one written by a woman and one by a man. In interviews, the subjects were asked to: (1) offer suggestions…

To compare the different images of writing that different assessment methods produce, a study examined two formal writing assessments--holistic and the specially developed intra-subject paired comparison method (IPC)--of pre/post university freshman composition-course writing. The samples of writing were unrehearsed, 50 minute, in-class essays.…

Presents a method of evaluating writing that (1) reduces teachers' marking time; (2) facilitates rather than judges student writing; (3) emphasizes performance rather than finished product; (4) provides double feedback, before and after revision; (5) helps bridge successive drafts by requiring immediate revision; and (6) improves student writing.…

This 1997 annotated bibliography of 244 items updates an earlier 87-item annotated bibliography. The current annotated bibliography focuses on the relationship between reading and writing as it bears upon the teaching of composition. Items looking at writing as a way of teaching reading, and items focused exclusively upon writer-based concerns…