To study grading standards and consistency within the English department, 1600 freshmen at Rockland Community College were asked to complete a uniform exit essay at the end of English 101. After developing criteria for grading the papers, members of the department marked their own papers and one other set. Eight months later, 240 of the papers…

An attempt is made to answer these questions: (1) whether writing practice has a place in foreign language instruction; and (2) if so, what kinds of writing pupils should learn. Suggestions are proposed as to content and procedure of a continuing course in writing skills for Dutch secondary schools. (AM)

A study investigated the reading comprehension of 34 college freshmen in relation to the presence of 20 syntactic elements of written language in their expository writing. Language samples included one silent reading comprehension test that identified "high" and "low" readers and two expository in-class themes, one developed…

A study was conducted to examine writing skill, particularly maintenance of coherence, in an environment where the information load was heavy and students would be expected to have problems organizing it. The students, all proficient in English, were enrolled in a postsecondary biology class. Two of the six students in the study had high objective…

An approach to teaching expository writing and research in support of that approach are presented in this book. The first section of the book discusses writing from given information, a technique by which teachers give students collections of nonverbal data (charts, graphs, maps, and other pictorial information) that the students must organize in…

Analysis of 24 sets of journal entries, drafts, and revisions of papers written by college students in literature/composition courses suggested three stages in the process of reading and writing about literature. In the progressive stage, which is based on theories of transactional literary analysis, brief writing exercises, such as journal…

Defining a writing center as a collection of activities and materials in a classroom for the purpose of stimulating, guiding, and encouraging children to write, this booklet offers suggestions for establishing and operating such a center. Various sections offer a rationale for the center, present activities to stimulate both creative and…

Draft specifications for an undergraduate course in professional writing, designed to teach practical writing skills, are presented in this paper. The paper notes the need for such a course to prepare professional personnel for the writing they do in their jobs, and it suggests that the course be aimed at juniors and seniors in liberal arts,…

This study considers the effects of ability, attitude, and pressure on army writing. A survey questionnaire was designed on the basis of a review of the literature on causes of organizational writing problems; this was administered to 168 army officers attending the Army Command and General Staff College. An entire class at the Command and General…

Research shows that effectively used writing plans (models of text organization) promote understanding of messages and that students can learn to use these plans. Writing plans include overall plans (antecedent/consequent, comparison, description, and response), emphasis plans that highlight certain subtopics, and cohesion plans that refer to the…

Freshmen enrolled in regular and remedial sections of English were surveyed to determine the amount of instruction and practice in expository composition received during high school. Results showed that the total amount of instruction was relatively low for both groups of students: only 15% of remedial students and 25% of regular English students…

For those students who qualify, the Advance Program offers an opportunity to follow a stimulating curriculum designed for the academically talented. The purposes of the course outlined in this guide for twelfth grade English are to bring the previous three years' studies in Advance Program English to a meaningful culmination; to provide a…

The activities and suggestions presented in this document for developing students' writing skills are based on fifteen ideas outlined at the beginning of the book. Part one, focusing on writing within the English course, suggests activities for the following: using reproductions of primary sources, writing directed to a specific and significant…

The writing of students at colleges of education about their teaching experiences and the writing done for them by children in infant and junior schools comprise this account of attempts to answer such questions as "What makes children want to write?" and "What is the relation between a writer's experience and imagination?" Excerpts from college…

This book discusses the theoretical and practical aspects of writing and producing a high school or college newspaper. Contents include "Slug...Fourth Estate,""A Short History of the Press,""Who Does What,""Style and Policy,""Covering the Story,""The News Story,""Other Articles,""Preparing Copy,""Planning the…