Reports an investigation to assess praiseworthy grading versus traditional grading. With praiseworthy grading, finds improvement in the quality of student writing, and argues that teachers give balanced and focused commentary on the strengths and weaknesses in students' writing. (JAD)

Compares two methods for evaluating syntactic complexity and maturity: (1) the T-unit method of W. K. Hunt and (2) the sentence weight method of P. DiStephano and S. Howie. Concludes that sentence weight is no more accurate than T-units, and more difficult to compute. (JG)

Examines whether certain student essays produce widely diverging holistic assessments from trained readers, using an essay from the 1986 Early English Composition and Assessment Program (from Miami University's Ohio Writing Project) and evaluating rater response with a questionnaire. Finds that the same paper evoked very different scores and rater…

Presents a continuum of composition teaching methods ranging from whole-to-part approaches (stressing free writing and developing voice) to part-to-whole approaches (stressing spelling, vocabulary, and usage). Recounts an evaluation of these methods by preservice teachers who favored the part-to-whole approaches. (JG)

Analyzes the research process by examining student journals from a research paper course in which volunteers recorded their reactions to articles, how they were developing their topic, and problems they encountered. Concludes that the blocks encountered in the research process are more complex than and different from those encountered in other…

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)

Suggests that exploring the topic of boredom in the writing class offers an opportunity to help students become more self-conscious about aspects of their writing. Describes the process of investigation of "boredom," partly as a model and partly to indicate what was discovered. Discusses what students and professionals say about the…

Discusses a study of writing revision in which all the writing done in two sections of a writing course was collected and draft-to-draft revisions were studied. Suggests that revision depends as much on acquisition of topical knowledge as on level of cognitive development. (SR)

Examines the perceptions of one experienced and four inexperienced college writers regarding the functions of writing in academic settings, citing social and personal factors influencing content and motivation. Presents 13 functions following a developmental sequence identified through inference by the researcher, including responsive, evaluative,…

Assesses empirically whether the goals of writing across the curriculum are being met at Oglethorpe University. Finds that the program (incorporating writing-intensive courses across the curriculum and composition classes linked to base courses in the disciplines) has been successful in helping students improve their academic performance within…

Discusses the organization of two basic writing courses around reading and summarizing, following the typical description of summary found in composition texts. Notes that, based on their research, the authors no longer believe that summaries can be completely objective: instead, they believe that summary is an interpretive act and that students…

Studies five peer-response groups in a freshman composition class before and after a semester of reading and responding to literature. Examines how the reading of literature affects the quality of responses to student written texts. Demonstrates the potential that the reading of and responding to literary texts holds for peer response. (MG)

Surveys more than 100 "authorities"--writing researchers or officials of the National Writing Project--to determine what they believe teachers should be doing in the writing classroom. (FL)

Describes a self-study in which a group of part-time composition instructors examined their practices for commenting on students' papers. Concludes that their commenting pedagogies had more to do with ubiquitous political ramifications of being marginalized part-timers or temporary appointees than they would have liked to admit. (RS)

Examines the writing assignments and instruction in 30 introductory literature textbooks. Finds three types of writing assignments: the "ever popular" critical paper, the expressive paper, and the literary paper. Presents excerpts of student papers to demonstrate that writing on expressive and literary topics can help students see the…