Studies the visual markers which students employ in writing descriptive and instructional text. Applies the guidelines approach, design decisions approach, and the information/reader model approach. Reports that beginning technical writing majors used fewer illustrations and visual markers than did technical majors. Suggests that the results may…

Describes a prewriting problem-solving plan intended to help students achieve effective organization and persuasion in writing business documents. Finds that business communication students felt the plan was beneficial, particularly for persuasive messages, individual writing, and small-group writing, and that many felt the plan was worth…