Presents a case study of a developmental college freshman that shows a dramatic change in spelling over the course of several weeks after completing self-instruction materials on phonics. Concludes that this case gives hope for adults with poor spelling habits and solicits suggestions from college instructors who work with students having similar…

Reviews ancient theory and modern research regarding the effect of imagery on memory. Suggests present-day technical communicators use, where possible, a particular kind of image to illustrate proceduralized instructions. Provides examples and illustrations that create special images. (KEH)

Reviews recent complex and somewhat confusing evidence on writing-to-learn. Draws on the field of cognitive psychology to offer a way to reconceptualize how researchers might approach the study of the impact of writing on learning. Considers five methods for assessing structural changes in knowledge due to writing. (MG)

Determines whether writing skills are hierarchically organized. Finds that writing begins with the primary process of responsiveness and ends with the terminal skill of mechanics. Suggests that the proportion of instructional time devoted to mechanics and editing skills should exceed that devoted to the primary skills of topic relevance and…

Analyzes why conceptual ambiguity surrounds the subject of writing plans: why they are viewed alternatively favorably and unfavorably; why they are sometimes mental and sometimes written constructs; and why they are sometimes indistinguishable from writing goals. Concludes that one problem is the view of writing as product. (SG)

Examines the writings of an engineer employed by a large manufacturing firm. Argues that the engineer's writing, although not the final product, is the essential means by which the product is created. Suggests that, because a report reflects final, agreed-upon knowledge about a product, the product and the document become one in the engineer's…

Compares White and African-American basic writers' texts produced during districtwide holistic writing assessments. Shows that White basic writers differ little from African-American basic writers, although African-Americans tend to use a stronger personal voice and drop standard word ending. Concludes that dialect is not the key issue. (MG)

Argues that Nassi-Schneiderman (NS) charts, when used to diagram human procedures, can eliminate prose ambiguities. Asserts that these devices provide most of the advantages of decision tables and trees. Suggests using NS charts in testing the logic and completeness of traditional procedures, or even in place of many traditional publications. (SG)

Identifies and analyzes 16 factors that influenced a largely unsuccessful collaborative writing process. Uses the language theory of Mikhail Bakhtin to explain how the factors operated together as forces impelled by the social context of the process. (RS)

Examines gender differences in topic choice by analyzing freshman writers' narratives of an incident they witnessed. Finds that pronounced, gender-based patterns influence text production, with women demonstrating caring and nurturing values in everyday life and men engaging in romantic fantasies of self-aggrandizement or apocalyptic fascination…

Investigates the effects of word processing on the quality of college basic writers' revisions. Finds that word processing does have a positive effect. (MS)

Asserts that previous research in cohesion has mathematically adjusted the data in ways that assume a linear relation between text length and opportunities for writers to make cohesive ties; but, because cohesion is often redundant, that relation probably is not linear, giving an advantage to writers of longer essays. (MS)

Outlines a social-interactive model of written communication, highlighting the writer's role in negotiations with readers in the medium of text. Reviews and challenges formalist and idealist theories of text meaning. Spells out the rules governing writers' moves by specifying a fundamental axiom and seven corollaries. (SR)

Examines the relationships among an audience analysis task, the number of arguments and appeals used in college students' persuasive papers, the level of strategic adaptation of those arguments, and overall persuasiveness. Finds that giving students information about the audience relative to their paper topics significantly affects each of the…

Suggests that distinguishing between a second-order reflective mentality and a first-order factive mentality is central to the perception of voice. Shows that the particular language interests of compositionists can lead to new understandings about grammar and the relationship between language form and language use. (MG)