A group evaluation program of student papers was established within a cross-disciplinary undergraduate writing program. The program was designed to train students to write for a general audience rather than for one teacher, and was initiated within the context of an institution that required students to display objective writing competency in any…

Teaching writing on the basis of purposes has certain advantages over teaching on the basis of techniques. The primary advantage is the greater resemblance to "real writing." Most student writing is apprentice work, as students themselves know, but it is far easier to point to nonacademic analogues of the categories of purpose (definition,…

This paper is designed to provide basic information for writing behavioral objectives for teaching and testing instructional objectives in the psychomotor, affective, and cognitive domains. Procedures stress the stating of performance objectives as learning outcomes in terms of specific learner behavior. The paper discusses: (1) desired outcomes…

There are two modes for testing writing: atomistic and holistic. Atomistic tests depend on isolating a form, emphasizing the recognition of the form rather than the creation of it. Holistic tests require the generation of writing, so that the forms are seen in a particular context. The atomistic tests have great danger of leading to false…

This book, designed primarily for writers, contains 100 chapters of instruction by contemporary writers, editors, and literary agents. A list of 2,500 markets for manuscripts is also provided. Part 1 contains articles which analyze the essence of writing and deal with such topics as writers' talent, creativity, and background. Part 2 focuses on…

Designed for use by composition students as well as teachers, the essays and background discussions in this book address themselves to questions of theory and practice in rhetoric. The book is divided into sections on invention, form, and style, and contains articles by such authors as Janet Emig, Wayne C. Booth, Richard L. Larson, Kenneth Burke,…

This paper proposes using dramatic situations for prewriting and writing assignments. Dramatic situations are defined as the process by which students, working in pairs, argue or discuss on paper in dialogue form a human question or problem. A sequence of exercises in several stages is outlined. First, students are divided into pairs and pass a…

The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which the currently taught methods of paragraph development are actually used in contemporary expository writing. Composition textbooks published since 1960 were examined to ascertain which methods of development are being taught. To discover the types of paragraph development found in…

Part of a broader inquiry into "Investigative Exposure in the Nineteenth Century: The Journalistic Heritage of the Muckrakers," this study traces the evolving reportorial techniques and literary style that gave journalism its form--a form combining strengths and flaws, freedom and inhibitions. Before nineteenth century police court reporting was…

This handbook provides the 1973 basic principles of the Columbia Press Association for determining the quality of the writing, publishing, and management of secondary school and college student publications. Official scorebooks are provided for the general, literary, and literary-art magazines. The major portion of the handbook discusses…

The scope of this quinmester unit of instruction ranges from a cursory look at newspapers, magazines, and sources of biographic material to a development of skills which enable the student to make effective use of them. The focus of the course is primarily exploratory as the student moves through the various media, but he is made aware that not…

Advantages and disadvantages to writing behavioral objectives, especially for teachers of language arts, are discussed. The three commonly accepted domains of learnings--cognitive, affective, and psychomotor--are presented in relation to verbs used to indicate learning in those domains. Steps in identifying evidences of learning are: (1) State…

The goal of this booklet is to help the new technical-writing teacher make the transition from teaching standard composition courses to teaching specialized technical writing. An introduction defines technical writing and discusses objectivity in writing, formats and report design, graphics, and audience awareness. Other sections of the booklet…

Two control classes and two experimental classes of first-semester college freshmen participated in this study, which examined the effect of expressive writing on attitudes toward writing in general. Both groups were taught the same content material and wrote the same number of papers. In addition, the experimental group did expressive writing in…

Students asked to write directions for assembling a tinkertoy structure learned valuable writing skills as well as critical ability. (JH)