Makes a case for students' using a focused, carefully phrased question as the basis for prewriting and writing, as opposed to a thesis sentence which can more easily lead them astray. (TB)

Describes an assignment where the student must examine him/herself as a writer. Discusses the implementation of the National Writing Project noting its purpose to improve the teaching of writing and improve learning in the nation's schools. (SC)

Presents an interview with James Cross Giblin. Discusses how writing non-fiction books for children aged 8 to 12 gives him the opportunity to pursue his research interests, meet interesting and stimulating experts in various fields, and share his enthusiasm with a young audience. (SG)

Two experiments examined effects of content and rhetorical prompts on undergraduates' writing processes and the quality of their writing. Found that content prompts extended time spent writing and related to improved text quality. Rhetorical prompts demonstrated some influence on planning and global text quality only when presented during domain…

Describes how to use students' journal writing as the basis for their own short stories. Includes developing story subjects by brainstorming and questioning, the basic elements of writing, the final product, and examples. (LRW)

Describes a method of helping students to invent characters in the context of a creative writing workshop for undergraduates. Considers how students draw composition characters for which they can write a profile using the surrealist technique of "exquisite corpses." Uses student work to illustrate how such characters feed into the story…

Discusses: poetry as a prereading activity; collaborative invention of poems; poet as gatherer of ideas; considering the poetic memory; remembering people through poetic memory; communication and creation; form and meaning; and engaging all students. (RS)

Induction, properly understood, is not merely a game, nor is it a gimmick, nor is it an artificial way of explaining an element of reasoning. Proper understanding of inductive reasoning--and the various types of reasoning that the authors term inductive--enables the student to evaluate critically other people's writing and enhances the composition…

The author has been tutoring and teaching writing for fifteen years, but has discovered that few people outside of academia know what it is that she does. Despite the rise in composition graduate programs and the improving market for composition specialists, even within the university, faculty from other disciplines frequently have vague notions…

The relation between teaching, instruction and children's learning arises whenever models of the teaching-learning process are discussed or whenever problems of learning occur. Despite massive research efforts we still know little about how differences in learning activities are related to students' learning. The primacy of teachers and teaching…

Proficiency with written expression is critical for students' academic success. Unfortunately, writing presents a challenge for both students and teachers. Recent data suggest that many students in U.S. schools fail to meet even the most basic writing standards. And even when students receive effective (i.e., evidence-based) writing instruction,…

The under-achievement of boys in the language components of standardised tests, together with a perception of boys as having negative attitudes towards the English curriculum, has led to boys being positioned as struggling writers. This article reflects critically on this construction, drawing on data from an Economic and Social Research Council…

This article introduces an activity based on Standard 12 of the "Standards for Technological Literacy" that will help students develop good writing skills. It also describes the elements of a writing prompt and of a rubric, the advantages of using rubrics, and the writing development process itself. It provides an activity through which students…

This self-reflexive personal narrative charts the autoethnographic journey of an adult educator, exploring her own practices, values and beliefs about teaching. Drawing upon postmodern scholarship in reflexive literary methodologies, the author uses personal memoirs as a research text for engaging in a process of interpretation and…

This essay shows the range to complexity for assessing academic service learning experiences. Corso recommends that instructors understand expectations for cognition, affective response, and communication competence as they place students into academic service learning experiences and as they assess learning outcomes within such contexts. Corso…