A study of topic choices and inductive/deductive development methods among 1,000 Oakland University students taking writing placement tests revealed significant differences in male/female thinking patterns and ability to communicate effectively. (DD)

Shows how photography and photographic processes can be used as a metaphor for describing writing and writing processes and, thus, can be a useful teaching tool. Discusses subject, focus, arrangement, and style. Describes how a writing teacher can use all this as a means of illustrating various aspects of the writing process. (SR)

Analyzes three examples of research in technical communication to illustrate the distinctions among modernism, antimodernism, and postmodernism. Suggests that antimodern rejections of the scientific enterprise within composition studies and technical communication are valuable in a culture in which science seems to have unlimited authority. (RS)

Points out that a carefully developed checklist is a valuable writing aide that can help students and instructor focus on successful writing throughout the writing process. Shares five how-to steps as a guide for developing a writing checklist. (SR)

Offers advice on surviving while trying to make a career as a writer after having been a writing teacher. Outlines the typical writing process students are expected to follow. Questions whether writer's workshop demands the impossible of students. Finds that the best writing process is to write every day at a time that works for the particular…

Interviews Karen Cushman about "The Midwife's Apprentice," the 1996 Newbery Medal Book. (SR)

Explains how a teacher teaches process writing in her mainstream high school classes, despite her obligation to cover grammar, literature, vocabulary, research, and communication. Shows how some approaches to process writing can be modified to fit it into a tighter, more structured course. (TB)

Discusses effects of new technology on writing by assessing whether an experienced writer's style of writing changes with new technology. Compares typed word-processed letters with dictated word-processed letters after a change to a voice recognition system and indicates more of an influence on the writing process than on the written products.…

Interviews Oliver Sacks, a doctor and author of eight books. Discusses his newest book, his upbringing, and memory. Explains how the medical profession influences his writing. (PM)

Discusses the adequacy of two modes of presenting information on a computer screen, the "alternating" (screen by screen) presentation and the "simultaneous" screen presentation (different information on one screen at the same time). Tests subjects performing writing tasks using one online document or two documents, using either…

Presents brief annotations of 11 books and journal articles (published between 1971 and 1996) useful to teachers, that address the teaching and learning of spelling. (SR)

Contends that essays are the proper rhetorical domain of stories, the place where stories most naturally belong when they are being used for the development and enlargement of ideas. Notes that stories are so powerful and distracting that when used together to make a familiar story, they can divert attention away from the essay's idea. Concludes…

This article presents a writing process wheel that has been designed as a task-specific tool for assisting teachers of students with learning disabilities to develop writing competence. The wheel displays five writing stages (prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publication) in a circular fashion with appropriate activities for each stage.…

Discusses word processing computer programs' potential to perform operations similar to those performed by computer assisted instruction (CAI). Suggests not abandoning CAI software entirely for the CAI potential of word processors. (RS)

Maintains that it is correct to acknowledge in scholarly writing journals that writing is hard, often frustrating work, but that the satisfaction of writing also needs to be addressed. Argues that student writers need to be encouraged to discover and even savor the range of large and small rewards which attend their own writing and thinking. (RS)