Presents and discusses three confessions regarding the effects computers have had on writing processes and products of three writing teachers. Suggests approaches to the use of word processing in composition courses and to research on such use. (SD)

Offers a method, based on the example of medical case histories, of charting basic writers' progress in order to diagnose and try to resolve their writing problems. Argues that the chart is an effective strategy for improving the work of basic writers. (SRT)

Explains ways of helping students to analyze and correct their spelling errors. Emphasizes the difference between composing well and using correct spelling. (EL)

Claims that the controversy about whether writing is a process or a product is largely unnecessary because writing is clearly both. States that the real argument in the profession regards what constitutes (1) useful research, (2) the tools needed to do it, and (3) the vocabulary within which it should be conducted. (JD)

Discusses the appropriateness of the process method for the business writer. Describes how the method might be taught in a business communication course. (JD)

Supports a reader oriented theory of paragraph writing. Discusses the readers' expectations of paragraphs and supporting research, demonstrates the strengths and weaknesses of the most popular current model of paragraph structure, demonstrates the power of rhetorical paragraph writing, and details the pedagogical implications of the…

Presents step-by-step instructions to help developmental writing students write a cohesive essay by combining individually written paragraphs. (HTH)

Presents a method for teaching report writing that first establishes the order followed when writing a good business report and then presents, in reverse order, the steps of gathering information, interpreting information, and organizing information. (SRT)

Describes the characteristics of an alternative writing workshop in which the author controls the discussion. Discusses the respective roles of the writer, the readers, and the teacher in such a workshop. (HTH)

Describes a language arts program in a Brooklyn, New York, public school in which children are questioned about their writing and their interests and allowed the freedom to put any interest on paper. Discusses the problems children encounter with such writing freedom, as well as the program's effectiveness. (HTH)

Compositions of 10 high-knowledge and 10 low-knowledge fourth-grade students taught by either academically-oriented or cognitive developmentally-oriented teachers were analyzed in terms of four types of propositions they contained to assess the relative influence of writers' prior knowledge and teachers' classroom lesson structure on students'…

Explores the patterns in children's talk about their writing, by means of transcribed conversations during daily writing/sharing sessions in a first grade classroom. Discusses the importance of this kind of talk. (HTH)

Suggests how a teacher of writing can cover curriculum and organize content to provide an environment in which children can create personal meaning through writing by using two common methods: webbing, which integrates content by theme, and the separation of content into time blocks. (EL)

Reports the results of a study exploring the relationship between motivation and writing in college freshmen and refutes the popular theory that most students have a strong desire to express themselves but cannot. (DF)

Argues that James L. Kinneavy's theory of discourse proposes standard written forms that do not exist in the abstract and absolute sense implied by the theory. Examines his discussions of the four aims and of the theoretical construct at the heart of his theory, arguing that it cannot serve adequately as a foundation principle for a theory of…