The reliability of grading by tutors at the Open University in Great Britain is examined. It is found that essays pose the greatest problem, which affects instruction in the arts, social sciences, and education most greatly. Less cause for alarm is found in other curricular areas. (MSE)

Compares the rhetorical context of essay exams with that of assignments written outside of class. Reports differences in pedagogical function, prompts, rhetorical function, mechanics, style, and organization. Refutes two common assumptions: that essay exams are not a genre and that they work against students' mastery of writing process skills.…

This is an abridged and modified form of an essay that the author, professor of Greek and Latin at Barnard College, delivered at the Library of Congress symposium held last spring on the hundredth anniversary of Robert Frost's birth. (Editor/RK)

Suggests that the essay, despite its second-class status in academia, is a compelling form. Argues that articles have replaced essays as a result of poststructuralist criticism and its preoccupation with ontological questions, resulting in a set of highly technical terms and conceptually difficult problems which exclude the casual reader. (ARH)

Discusses Laura Mulvey's 1975 essay, "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema," and the ideas about feminist film theory and psychoanalysis as a critical tool which it raises. Suggests contradiction is the central issue in feminist film theory. Explores definitions of women's cinema. (SA)

"E-rater" is an operational automated essay scoring application that combines several natural language processing (NLP) tools for the purpose of identifying linguistic features in essay responses to assess the quality of the text. The application currently identifies a variety of syntactic, discourse, and topical analysis features. Two…

A satirical letter from an experienced teacher to a former student, congratulating him on his first teaching assignment and offering sagacious advice. (JB)

A review of The University and Revolution (Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N. J., 1969) by Gary R. Weaver and James H. Weaver, editors. (DB)

By classifying and analyzing actual disputes in film criticism, the author considers the following questions: Are there connections between film theory and film criticism? If so, which are healthy and which are diseased? If not, what alternative healthy function might film theory have? (Author/SJL)

Discusses why the unit of discourse for literary criticism is the essay. (DD)

Reviews methods being developed for mass deacidification of books to prevent deterioration of paper. The use of diethyl zinc, liquified gas, and morpholine, and the advantages, disadvantages, and cost of each are considered. A 26-item bibliography is included. (JD)

The article focuses on the relationship between the primary process and the creative process, especially as it relates to the fields of wit and poetry. Examples of identification based on similarity in schizophrenics are presented. (CL)