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)

Presents specific implications of writing research for teachers who work with gifted youngsters in elementary school writing. Supports the use of derived plot patterns and point of view as two types of literature-based writing assignments that work especially well with gifted students. (MS)

Concludes from an analysis of student writing and interviews with individual students that they benefit from being offered a variety of writing assignments and from the opportunity to apply their own knowledge, background, and experiences to their writing. (AEA)

Analyzes score differences for the papers of 50 students who wrote on four different writing topics, two that were on transactional and two that were on expressive topics. Results suggested that differences between scores might be very important for individuals, so to insure fairness, teachers should use additional forms of writing assessment. (DF)

Proposes three basic strategies of inquiry essential to good writing and reports the results of studies on these strategies. (JL)

Argues that children want to write and enjoy writing and that teachers need to provide them with suitable opportunities for doing so. Discusses different kinds of writing that allow children's voices to come through. (FL)

A survey of 190 academic departments in 34 universities indicates that considerable variability exists across fields in the kinds of writing required and in preferred assessment topics. (FL)

Reviews research and concludes that many studies support the use of various types of writing to help students develop their reading skills. (AEA)

A 1979 analysis of student expository writing showed that holistic quality scores awarded by teacher-raters were influenced to a greater extent by essay length and freedom from spelling errors. A replication of that investigation using a sample of students' narrative writing produced the same findings. (HOD)

Argues that successful interpretation of writing tasks demands writers' authority, confidence, and knowledge of rhetorical choices, allowing them to take charge of their own writing rather than catering to the imagined demands of a teacher. (RS)

Explores the difficulties writing teachers and students encounter with content area writing assignments, using observations and interviews from two social science classes. (HTH)

Applies educational research on the composing process to the writing of junior high school students. Explains how tapes were used to create a new unit aimed at correcting student writing weaknesses. (JL)

Reports on the development of a home intervention strategy at the secondary school level to improve students' writing abilities. (HOD)

Focuses on the writing of problem and purpose statements of a report and what the authors of various textbooks say about the writing of these statements. Concludes that no single definition of problem and purpose statements exist to which the writers of communication textbooks agree. (KEH)

Compares the preferred prewriting invention strategies of advanced, average, and basic ability eleventh grade writers. Finds that freewriting was used most frequently by the total group of students as well as when advanced students' and average students' responses were considered separately. Includes comparisons of preferences by level of student…