This article considers how instructors with larger classes can utilize Web 2.0 tools to help students develop as writers. Meeting the needs of readers defines strong writing, yet students need to interact with authentic audiences to learn to do this well. A growing body of educators is exploring how blogging can be used to enhance student…

In this article, the authors focus on the decision-making process that goes into professional writing and ways to emphasize ethical decision-making in writing classrooms. Professional writing has at its core an emphasis on action and audience. Certainly teachers want their students to write effectively--to serve their clients, organizations, and…

Describes a technical writing assignment in which students learn to consider the needs of an audience through writing query letters. Discusses researching the magazine, comparing competitors, editors' responses, and the advantages results of the assignment. (PRA)

Gives seven responses from practicing English teachers concerning ways that they have implemented the writing of various kinds of letters by students into the English curriculum. Demonstrates the efficacy and success of such methods. (HB)

A study examined how student-writers accommodated a real audience--that is how they adapted their writing to communicate clearly and forcefully with an audience other than the teacher. Subjects, 18 students in a pre-composition, remedial English course at Indiana University East, were asked to revise the formal drafts into a…

This paper presents a writing exercise that the author uses in his technical writing courses. The purpose of the exercise is to: (1) convince students that their ideas have value; and (2) teach higher order thinking skills--specifically, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. The author relates his own college experience, noting the fact that only…