Trickster tales, with their teachings on how to behave in the world, are a powerful means for transmitting social knowledge and cultural mores to children. In this study we compared two approaches to teaching fourth-grade students to write trickster tales. Although both instructional methods incorporated aspects of the writing process approach,…

Tests the supposition that male and female writing styles differ, using 88 college students as subjects. Finds that the writing of men and women is far more similar than different. Finds that differences resulting from mode of discourse were more widespread than differences resulting from gender. (MG)

Reports the results of analysis of revisions in 100 randomly selected sets of 12th-grade students' essay drafts. Findings revealed that there are patterns of revising strategies among the students and that these differences are associated with the quality of their writing. (HOD)

Presents a poem, "Henry and Edith in Casper," and discusses the composing processes that led to its creation. (SRT)

Examines the evidence for both the linguistic and rhetorical hypotheses about writers' planning and presents new research on episodic patterns within the writing process itself. Uses protocol analysis to look at the content and nature of writers' plans. (HOD)

Examines writers' options in organizing comparisons. Finds that chunking of content in a systematic way is a strong predictor of holistic quality ratings, and that higher rated papers tend to be written by students with higher verbal abilities and more extensive topic knowledge. Demonstrates the complexity of the choices writers must make in…

Argues that, in their decision to restrict their study to surface evidence of cohesion beyond the sentence, Halliday and Hasan in "Cohesion in English" limit themselves to a discussion of meaning as it appears in surface structure. (HOD)

Notes that while there are some similarities in secondary school teachers' and students' perceptions about the kinds of written work usually done in class, there are also very marked differences in perceptions, particularly regarding essays, short answers, and poetic writing. (HOD)

Investigates the effects an assigned audience has on undergraduates' attitudes, composing strategies, and persuasive writing. Finds that while assigning an audience had a limited effect on essay scores, it increased students' interest, effort, use of audience-based strategies, and ability to persuade. (SR)

Reflects on three major issues that confronted researchers conducting a comparative study of achievement in written composition as they attempt to measure performance in writing across many languages and cultures. Concludes that most assessments of writing simply measure perceived drafting quality, which is a highly subjective judgment. (MG)

Using electromyography, an investigation was made of the interaction between covert language behavior, rhetorical modes, and the reading and writing processes. (HOD)

Presents a study examining the effects of using pen and paper and word processing on planning processes. Results show that writers using word processing alone: (1) planned less overall; (2) planned less before beginning to write; (3) did less conceptual planning; and (4) did more sequential or local planning. (RAE)

Offers an interpretive frame for viewing children's growth as creators of imaginative worlds. Suggests that writing development depends not only on children's discovery of cognitive and linguistic strategies but on children's discovery that writing can help authors create coherence in their worlds beyond texts. (MS)

Reports on a study that explored, first, how metadiscourse can enhance college students' awareness of readers' needs and, second, how the use of metadiscourse is related to the quality of the texts that students produced. Suggests that metadiscourse produces better student writing. (TB)

Reports on the predrafting processes of several high and several low writing apprehensive students engaged in academic writing and analyzes the differences related to writing apprehension. (HOD)