Suggests that cohesion is best understood as a general perceptual phenomenon rather than a purely semantic one. Discusses three types of structural cohesion based on an analysis of technical texts: cohesion produced through thematic progression, parallelism, and graphic devices. (SR)

Examines whether writers who can create vivid mental images experience intense emotions as they write. Finds that imagery contributes to the intensity of a writer's engagement with his or her evolving text and that imagery may bridge the cognitive and affective domains of thought. (PRA)

Argues the cloze procedure is the appropriate method of assessing the readability of business writing. Uses this procedure to determine the readability of a statement issued by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB). Finds one important GASB statement unreadable by college-level readers. (NH)

Provides a comprehensive bibliography of recent articles and monographs related to the general issues of writing centers. (HB)

Discusses similarities among writing, texts, and containers. Claims that containerization is a central metaphor in composition studies. Argues that this metaphor constrains the way texts are understood and treated. Examines alternatives to the text-as-container metaphor. (HB)

Discusses the way in which letters sent to Thomas Edison following the report that he had solved the problem of incandescent lighting reveal the many discursive worlds that Edison's work touched. Claims these letters indicate how a technological accomplishment is also a multiple, complex social, and communicative accomplishment, creating place and…

Finds that respondents (working in a medium-sized federal government agency) reading high-impact reports did not make significantly better decisions than those reading bureaucratic reports. Shows that context factors (perceived work roles, job design, organizational structure, report genre expectations, and organizational language norms) caused…

Identifies advantages and disadvantages of using focus groups rather than individual interviews in evaluating texts. Finds that focus groups tended to identify acceptance problems, whereas individual interview participants focused on comprehension. (SR)

Examines the concept of "word" in beginning literacy, where children were assigned typical concepts of word tasks (copying from the board, writing from dictation, free writing) at the beginning and end of the year. Compares spelling scores with the concept of word measures. Finds a developmental hierarchy in concept of word acquisition…

Suggests that acquaintance with nurses' writing would help instructors design assignments for nursing students in basic technical writing courses. Investigates the importance of writing tasks for nurses and describes the most common documents nurses generate, since good writing skills for nurses improve health care delivery and promote…

Shares the author's experiences helping teenage students write for audiences beyond the teacher, the classroom, the school and the geographical community. Discusses issues of policies, procedures, and possibilities of online communities. Describes TEENLIT.COM, a website that fosters teens' writing and provides a community for adolescent writers.…

Considers how to help middle school students grow in competence and confidence as writers while addressing their spelling difficulties. Presents a research study that examined instructional histories, analyzed results of spelling and visual memory inventories, and mapped the strategies and habits the challenged spellers used as well as those they…

The reactions of children to a written interchange that they redid by co-opting riddles, that is a genre which is unavoidably dialogic, is focused. The research conducted for the same through exchange of e-mail letters is discussed in detail.

The article consists of two parts: One introduces the concept of positioning as a framework for inspecting and relating major tendencies regarding research on writing; the other gives a historic outline of how research on writing in Norway first emerged. The triadic semiotics of Buhler, Bakhtin, Habermas, and Halliday are combined, and then…

According to Bandura's social cognitive theory, self-efficacy and self-regulation are key processes that affect students' learning and achievement. This article discusses students' reading and writing performances using Zimmerman's four-phase social cognitive model of the development of self-regulatory competence. Modeling is an effective means of…