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)

Presents a professional writer and writing teacher's ideas on writing and the writing process. (JL)

Argues that, in understanding creativity and the process of composing, it is helpful to think in terms of the metaphysical concept and while polar opposites appear to be contradictory, they are part of the same whole. Suggests some polarities that help in understanding the creative process in writing. (TJ)

Discusses the prewriting process in terms of forces that affect prewriting, prewriting as rehearsal, and eight signals that tell writers that a piece of writing is near. (DD)

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 similar and different ways that reading and writing influence consciousness. Summarizes the relationship between reading and writing as meditation--a way of modifying inner speech or composing in the mind. (HTH)

Reports on the difficulties a teacher had while trying to compose her first poetry assignment at the Bread Loaf School of English. (RL)

Argues that since invention in scientific research is discovery of the unknown, and since invention in writing is discovery of ideas within existing knowledge, then scientific research cannot be viewed as a part of prewriting in the scientific writing process. (KEH)

Discusses the benefits of using a word processor for composition in the areas of prewriting, revising, proofreading, and printing. (AEA)

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…

Idea processors are computer programs that can aid the user in creating outlines by allowing the user to move, reorder, renumber, expand upon, or delete entries with a push of a button. The question is whether these programs are useful and should be offered to students. Theoretically, an idea processor prioritizes ideas by placing them in a…

In the absence of appropriate instruction, word processing programs in general and stylistic analysis programs in particular can reinforce the unproductive revision strategies of inexperienced student writers. For example, the predilection of inexperienced writers to see text as parts (words) rather than as whole (communication) can be reinforced…

Recommends using Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives as an aid to involve students in their writing and to overcome stilted diction while discovering that writing is a process. (CRH)

Invention is a dynamic, recursive process influenced by the rhetorical situation of audience and purpose, the writer's long-term memory, and the text which has already been produced at any given moment. Most heuristics are concerned with the generation of ideas, that is, content oriented. However, the relationship of form-oriented planning to the…

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…