Investigates the effects an assigned audience has on undergraduates' attitudes, composing strategies, and persuasive writing. Finds that while assigning an audience had a limited effect on essay scores, it increased students' interest, effort, use of audience-based strategies, and ability to persuade. (SR)

Relates problems of law text comprehensibility to the legislative writing process. Describes the drafting of three pieces of Swedish consumer legislation at different stages. Summarizes and analyzes the results in relation to rhetorical and sociolinguistic theories of writing. (SR)

Interviews author Emily McCully, Caldecott Medal Winner, about her work as an author and illustrator of books for children. (SR)

Surveyed 107 academics from the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, in 1991 concerning their writing strategies and tools. Results found that 77% used word processors and that 53% used the 3-stage approach to writing that emphasized planning, writing, and revising. (Contains 10 references.) (MDM)

Presents an interview with Australian novelist and short story writer Peter Carey. Discusses why he left Australia, teaching in the United States, the writing processes behind his various publications, and translations of his work into other languages. (RS)

This article describes a project which involved inner city elementary grade children with disabilities in writing and performing their own plays. A four-step playwriting process focuses on theme and character development, problem finding, and writing dialogue. The project has led to improved reading skills, attention, memory skills,…

Traces the emergence of authorship in a beginning college writing classroom through two case examples. Finds that although the instructor tried to foster a sense of engagement and commitment, the technical difficulty of the task, students' perceptions of their peers' interests, and a legacy of schooling and culture were equally important concerns…

Teaching writing as a process is advocated to enhance a student's metacognitive skills and understanding of writing. The process can be used with students who have mild disabilities. Prewriting techniques such as clustering and color coding are explained, along with three teacher options for prewriting instruction to address class and student…

Examined how information-processing load affects the writing process by having 40 undergraduates write a short essay up to a supplied ending sentence with increasing content constraints. Results found that a high information-processing load led to lower-rated story coherence, but not to lower- rated quality. (36 references) (MDM)

Describes three fifth-grade students in the author's school who used humor in their writing assignments. Offers samples of their work and their observations about it. (SR)

Describes the folk tale "Iron John" and the attraction it held for the author as a boy. Discusses the author's own reforming of the tale in a picture book version. (SR)

Explores what writing teachers want to know about the ways cultural realities, such as gender, influence literary practices, such as writing autobiographical stories for composition classes. Argues that what they want to know affects how they read gender narratives and that reversing the terms would make a difference in their reading practices.…

Describes the Jostens Learning Writing Program, which integrates reading, writing, and thinking instruction in realistic literacy tasks, using real-life experiences and everyday applications. (SR)

Discusses how and why the author creates the characters she does and how she consciously takes account of gender issues in doing so. Suggests that both genders have to be allowed to be as real in literature as they are in life. (RS)

Describes a first-day assignment for writing courses called a "writing autobiography" in which the student is asked to identify and assess their own strengths and weaknesses as writers. Argues for the value of having students consider their processes as writers. (HB)