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)

Presents a brief summary of the findings of a study. Describes three simple procedures to improve the accessibility and readability of journal abstracts: (1) enlarge type size to match that of the text; (2) use paragraph indentation to denote structure; and (3) rewrite abstracts in plainer English. (SR)

Uncovers a thread of scholarship running throughout this century that is concerned with the relationship between time, the teaching of writing, and institutional constraints. Analyzes what it suggests about time and writing, especially the use of impromptu writing for student assessment. Suggests ways to make some allowances for the role of time…

The purpose of this study was to analyze how children in the early grades of elementary school divide words while writing. The subjects were 450 Italian children belonging either to upper-middle-class or lower-middle-class families who were asked to write the familiar story of "Little Red Riding Hood." (CFM)

Responds to a 1993 article in this journal. Places that article's general conclusion (that profitable corporations have more readable narrative texts than unprofitable ones) within the broader context of the readability research and corporate reporting literature. (SR)

Investigates the extent to which draft reviews improved the technical accuracy of two computer documents. Finds that draft reviews encouraged reviewers to make suggestions about all aspects of a document, not only technical accuracy. Recommends that draft reviews be supplemented by numerous other quality control techniques such as user reviews and…