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)

Notes discrepancies between findings from textual studies and classroom practices and textbooks. Reviews research on cohesion and writing development. Argues that teachers must critically examine writing research and apply it in the classroom. (JAD/RAE)

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)

Asserts that previous research in cohesion has mathematically adjusted the data in ways that assume a linear relation between text length and opportunities for writers to make cohesive ties; but, because cohesion is often redundant, that relation probably is not linear, giving an advantage to writers of longer essays. (MS)

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…

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.…

Replicates C. Haas and L. Flower's 1988 think-allowed reading study. Finds that, when reading a passage on a topic more familiar to first-year students, the undergraduates generated substantially more rhetorical comments than they did with the Haas and Flower passage. Cautions researchers and teachers to avoid hasty assumptions about underlying…

Discusses and problematizes the way writing instructors "read" their students' writing. Argues that teachers often "misread" student writing. Studies the way peer critique and teacher critique are affected by the reader's knowledge of the writer's sex. Describes the "gendering" processes of readers in general. (HB)

This paper provides additional discussion and interpretation of the original findings of a study examining the development of writing skills across college years. The paper focuses on six interpretive problems from the mass of primary data in an attempt to clarify issues and block off false interpretive trails. The paper discusses: (1) the…

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.…

To determine whether the development of writing skills changes across college years, a study examined the writing of average-age college freshmen, sophomores, and beginning juniors. Writing samples were obtained during the first week of the first semester, last week of the first semester, first week of the third semester, and first week of the…

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…