This study is the sixth in a series of reports from the Reading-to-Write Project, a collaborative study of students' cognitive processes at one critical point of entry into academic performance. This report provides an in-depth look at how students use elaboration (bringing prior knowledge to a task), how much value elaborative material adds, and…

Investigates the similarities and differences in cognitive processing during reading and writing activities as reported in the think-aloud protocols of an above-average and a below-average student. Concludes that the above-average student reported more behaviors and more behaviors that facilitated meaning-making than the below-average student. (RS)

This study is the 10th in a series of reports from the Reading-to-Write Project, a collaborative study designed to examine the cognitive processes of college freshmen in the act of entering a university-level academic discourse community and to present a model of that transition. Subjects, 17 freshmen (of a total of 72 participating either as…

Noting that the new literary and rhetorical theories are concerned with revealing the constructive nature of productive and interpretive processes, this paper examines the cognitive processes in reading and writing which make them constructive and intentional acts, and how reader and writer "negotiate" meaning in light of context, reader…

A study explored students' dynamic use of various forms of reading and writing to learn. In investigating the relationship between learner initiative, literacy, and the ability to conduct a critical inquiry of a topic of study, seven college undergraduates were asked to direct their own reading and writing engagements enroute to composing a…

This study is the eighth in a series of reports from the Reading-to-Write Project, a collaborative study of students' cognitive processes at one critical point of entry into academic performance. This report examines the initial reading strategies that a group of participating students used to begin a reading-to-write task and the impact of those…

This study is the ninth in a series of reports from the Reading-to-Write Project, a collaborative study of students' cognitive processes at one critical point of entry into academic performance. This report focuses on ways in which broadly-based cultural and institutional factors silently influence students' reading and writing behaviors.…

Determines patterns of researching used by proficient middle school students and whether the organizational pattern of the final text follows the researching pattern. Interviews and observes six students conducting a reading-to-write activity. Establishes different researching profiles, which influenced paper type written. Suggests different…

A study explored how writers with extensive experience and learning in an academic discipline used both topical and rhetorical knowledge to construct synthesis essays. Subjects, 20 psychology graduate students and 20 business graduate students, wrote synthesis essays on either the topics of "supply-side economics" or "rehearsal in…

Examines effects of three writing tasks on students' writing, writing processes, and later understanding of short stories. Results indicate that personal analytic and formal analytic writing were associated with significantly higher posttest scores on literature than restricted writing in the form of short answer questions. (SRT)

Second in the series "Reading-to-Write: Exploring a Cognitive and Social Process," this report looks at the different ways students represent reading-to-write tasks to themselves, analyzes the resulting divergence in their writing goals and strategies, and recommends teaching task representation as an interpretive process that continues…

A study examined preschool children's awareness of literacy. Subjects included 18 children from 2 classrooms of prekindergarten children who lived in a black, inner-city neighborhood and attended a school that believed in providing formal reading and writing instruction in the prekindergarten year. Subjects were asked how they were learning, how…

Concludes that the nature of the writing tasks assigned to students will emphasize some aspects of the curriculum and de-emphasize others. (NKA)

This study is the fifth in a series of reports from the Reading-to-Write Project, a collaborative study of students' cognitive processes at one critical point of entry into academic performance. This part of the study examines the ways in which college students interpret and negotiate an assignment that calls for reading to write. Subjects, 17…

Describes a two-year study of one college student's efforts to produce appropriate content area writing in different disciplines. Using observation, interviews, composing-aloud protocols, and text analysis, evaluates the student's performance according to the Gricean rubric of conversation. Concludes that success was affected by unarticulated…