Assesses the compatibility of computer conferencing with collaborative learning. Finds that computer conferencing is another form of computer technology well-suited for the teaching of writing as a socially constituted process. Finds that computer conferencing integrates school life with life outside the school. (RS)

Notes discrepancies between findings from textual studies and classroom practices and textbooks. Reviews research on cohesion and writing development. Argues that teachers must critically examine writing research and apply it in the classroom. (JAD/RAE)

Argues that standardized tests can provide limited guidance, in conjunction with student writing samples, in the decision whether students should be exempted from freshmen writing courses. Suggests that students who write well but whose performance is unstable can be affected, positively or negatively, by exemption results. Suggests that students'…

Describes a series of studies of both student and professional writers. Concludes that writers' emotions change discernibly when they compose. Finds intensified positive emotions (such as excitement and happiness), weakened negative-passive emotions (shame and boredom), and less variable negative-active emotions (including fear and anger). (SG)

Examines the processes an engineer goes through as he/she writes a routine and a non-routine document--processes that are strongly affected by the degree to which his/her company has previously accepted the claims he/she makes as given or as knowledge. Discusses the collaborative nature of work in an organization. (MS)

Argues that an integrated vision of the composition process is needed to explain how context cues cognition, which in turn mediates and interprets the particular world that context provides. Explores some ways that observational research might be used to create a well-supported, theoretical understanding of the composition process. (RS)

Recounts the history of the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC) and explores the purpose for CCCC's existence. (RAE)

Reviews the history of verbal data in a variety of fields, places protocol analysis in its historical context, and examines more recent claims and criticisms regarding protocol analysis. Concludes that protocol analysis, when conducted according to certain principles, can be an important tool for researching the composing process. (MG)

Looks at the relationship between error and creativity in the writing of ESL students. Shows how syntactic and lexical constraints combined with students' cultural and aesthetic preferences to produce remarkable poetic effects in their writing. (SR)

Demonstrates that students who attempt graphically to represent their own writing process increase their involvement and self-awareness while validating their new writing behaviors and come to understand their role in managing the unique complexities of their own composing process. (SR)

Finds that case assignments used in a college business composition course generally produced more effective writing products than did traditional model assignments. Suggests that the writing processes and attitudes involved in the case assignments were highly sensitive to audience and context, whereas those involved in the traditional assignments…

Presents a detailed description of a scribe and his client in Mexico producing a letter through "joint composition," a term used to refer to letter-writing episodes involving two or more active participants. Shows how the participants negotiated their points of view and pooled their knowledge to produce a specific type of document. (PA)

Finds that lower-level developmental variables are related to beginning writing skills. Identifies an orthographic-linguistic dimension and an automaticity dimension in the battery of developmental skills and writing products. (RS)

Discusses Janet Emig's experiences with sexism in academe in the 1950s and 1960s and her composing process theory in the 1960s. Addresses pedagogical implications of her composing theory, cognitive development as a factor in composition pedagogy, and publication of the monograph. Discusses criticism of the monograph, and suggests that it…

Considers McPhee's explicit statements on nature and environmental issues as well as the implicit environmental appeals in his essays. Suggests that in the complicated and volatile minefield of modern environmentalism, readers need an expository guide like McPhee who is not only open-minded but informative, discerning, and reliable. (RS)