An autobiography class at Elizabethtown College (Pennsylvania) used one of its four technique paper assignments to focus on the exploratory essay, since the concept of exploration, simply for the sake of questioning, probing, and testing, has both validity and purpose in a class or assignment focusing on autobiography. First the class brainstormed…

Summarizes some thoughts of Stephen W. Hawking who proposes that certain kinds of communications across the event horizon are possible, that they lead to the evaporation or explosion of the black hole, and, therefore, that classical or quantum mechanical causality has no meaning. (GS)

The two experiments described show that college students in psychology can slant their essays in the direction of originality when the teacher's expectations are made clear to them. (Author/RM)

A study examined the reaction of college freshmen to 30 essay test prompts to determine if rhetorical factors in the prompt would affect a student's choice of that prompt. The subjects, 40 college freshman enrolled in an introductory English course, rated eight rhetorical qualities of the essay prompts: (1) whether the essay would be easy to…

A central aim in any assessment program is to ensure fair and stable scoring from administration to administration. When administrations are decentralized, not only in location, but in frequency and in logistical configuration, it is imperative to construct training, certifying, and monitoring systems that provide continuity between the original…

In his rhetorical theory, James Kinneavy distinguishes between "aim" and "mode," but his modes do not represent kinds of reality; instead they represent more specific aims on a lower level of abstraction. Although Kinneavy's classification has been useful in the classroom, seeing the modes as specific aims yields even more…

An alternative method of evaluating the candidate in the British university examination procedure is presented. (PG)

A deeply reflective essay on the ultimate necessity of shared purpose, humanizing inquiry, and concern for the learner as the true perspectives for the process of a liberal education. (Editor)

UNFAVORABLE RESULTS IN GRADING ESSAYS, PARTICULARLY THE COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMINATION BOARD GENERAL COMPOSITION TEST, LED TO THE STUDY. IT WAS EXPECTED THAT PROGRESS IN OBJECTIVE EVALUATION OF ESSAYS WOULD BE MADE, BY MEANS OF A FACTOR ANALYSIS OF THE JUDGMENTS OF A DIVERSE GROUP OF COMPETENT READERS IN AN UNSTRUCTURED SITUATION. IT WAS HOPED THAT…

THIS SECOND AND FINAL VOLUME OF "ADVANCED ARABIC READERS" CONTAINS 23 ESSAYS AND ARTICLES SELECTED TO INTRODUCE THE ADVANCED STUDENT TO EXPOSITORY WRITING. THE GENERAL FORMAT FOLLOWS THE FIRST READER, "SELECTIONS FROM THE MODERN NOVEL AND SHORT STORY," WITH GRAMMATICAL NOTES AND EXPRESSIONS FOLLOWING EACH SELECTION. THE CONTENTS ARE GROUPED BY…

THE PROBLEM OF THIS RESEARCH WAS TO INVESTIGATE THE EFFECTS OF FREQUENCY OF WRITING AND INTENSITY OF TEACHER EVALUATION UPON PERFORMANCE BY STUDENTS OF VARYING ABILITIES. THE STUDY WAS DESIGNED TO INCLUDE EIGHT 10TH-GRADE CLASSES WITH TWO TEACHERS FOLLOWING FOUR DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO INTENSITY OF TEACHER EVALUATION AND FREQUENCY OF WRITING.…