Reprints a 1986 article from this journal which discusses the mission and goals of the Center for the Study of Writing. Updates the article with an Afterword commenting on the earlier piece. (SR)

Examines the types of documents written by 23 executives/managers in 2 different companies, finding that the most frequently written documents are memorandums and letters. Notes implications for business writing courses. Suggests that students be required to prepare a wide variety of documents in business writing courses. (SR)

Evaluates four writing samples from each student in several freshman composition courses. Finds that students did not perform consistently from one assignment to the next. Suggests that knowing how well a student performs on one writing task says very little about how well the student is likely to perform on other writing tasks. (RS)

Asks the reader to try to make sense out of one student's response to Adrien Stoutenberg's poem "Reel One." Presents the student's reading and an analysis of the student's reading. (HB)

Examines the attitudes toward, and uses of, published research of a large random sample of technical communication practitioners. Shows that they value and use research but do not read academic research studies. Analyzes differences among various subgroups of practitioners. (SR)

Explains the use of true experimental designs in technical communication research, lists the eight steps in the research process, and concludes with the hope that practitioners should now be able to read research studies critically and perhaps design empirical studies of their own after further reading. (SR)

Finds that both experienced scientists and college students found it difficult to carry out intellectual teamwork involving collaboratively authored documents without the interactivity and expressiveness permitted by face-to-face communication. (SR)

Raises questions about the epistemology inherent in composition studies, especially with regard to the issue of modeling. Investigates the usefulness and implications of modeling theory for contemporary composition study. Provides a context for discovering what it means to construct models of writing processes. (HB)

Provides evidence (based on studies of college-entrant essays) that readers form definite impressions of the writer's personality from the text, that these impressions have an important effect on the acceptance of the writer's message, and that information about the reader's perception of the writer's personality can play a critical role in…

Investigates how college students in an upper-division professional writing course respond to user input at the draft stage of writing computer documentation. Finds that writers perceive user input in different ways and suggests that draft-stage user testing produces better documentation. (PRA)

Suggests an approach for expanding and integrating research to produce a history of technical writing. Defines problems that reside in writing such a history, suggests research premises and questions, and then applies these questions to technical writing as it existed in the English Renaissance, 1475-1640. (SR)

Surveys 25 people who use databases at work to discover the ways in which social and organizational factors affect users' tasks and their acquisition of knowledge and skills. Finds that learning to use databases for complex tasks in work entails more than simply learning concepts and procedures for executing program functions. (PRA)

Discusses the ongoing dialogs concerning paradigm shifts in education, especially with regard to English instruction. Describes one teacher's experiences with the issue of paradigm shift in the form of a blues song. Shows how teachers can move beyond the questions of paradigms. (HB)

Describes the varieties of "Writing Fellows" (curriculum-based peer tutoring) programs. Provides help for starting such programs. Presents results of a survey of WF programs. Offers observations based on the experiences of the director of a six-year-old Writing Fellows program. (RS)

Describes revision as practiced at a major scientific research and development laboratory. Shows how scientific authors, technical editors, colleague reviewers, and supervisors team up in a collaborative approach in which editors provide substantive revisions early in the collaborative review process. Argues that editors should become involved at…