Recommends 14 recently published books on writing. Groups the books in 6 categories: assessment, classroom publishing, foundations, insights from writers, classroom descriptions, and general information. (MG)

Investigates the responding styles of technical writing teachers and of technical editors and supervisors. Finds that teachers usually ask questions rather than suggest or direct. Asserts that teachers might improve their commentary by adapting the responding techniques of technical editors and supervisors, including explicit and systematic usage…

Discusses the ways that writing teachers comment on and evaluate student writing, especially in the form of marginal comments. Describes three writing teachers in the act of creating margin comments. Analyzes their acts of commenting. Shows how analysis of such teacher response might inform work with student writers. (HB)

Addresses the problem of oversimplification among basic writers. Investigates the strategies and assumptions of basic writers in moving to oversimplify their writing. Presents case studies involving basic writers and analyzes them to determine the causes of oversimplification. (HB)

Argues that holistic scoring requires evaluators to suppress their interpretive judgment and treat students' writing differently than in any other situation, based on an analysis of videotaped reader-training sessions for an English Proficiency Essay Exam. (NH)

Claims that holistic scoring for schoolwide assessment of writing proficiency is influenced by the disciplines represented by the faculty readers. Describes in detail the findings of a study designed to measure reader bias in evaluation, a phenomenon suggested by reader-response theory. (HB)

Describes the way one teacher used extensive journal writing by students over assigned readings and the pros and cons of such an activity. Considers how teachers should respond to and evaluate student journal writings. Provides advice on how such journals can be used to develop writing voice. (HB)

Reviews videotapes of three professional writers composing several essays from start to finish, both by hand and by computer. Discusses similarities and differences among the completed essays. Finds that writing appears to be governed by deep cognitive models that are little influenced by the mode of text production or by the writer's preference…

Finds developmental changes in both cohesive harmony and holistic writing quality in the writing of first graders, suggesting that cohesive harmony may be a sensitive measure of textual quality. Finds no consistent relationship between measures of cohesive ties and cohesive harmony. Suggests that cohesive harmony is a viable tool for discourse…

Describes a writing assignment which allows students to exercise creativity communicating set facts while utilizing narrative techniques covered in class (sentence variety, dominant impressions, narrative action, detailing, etc.), and in which peers judge how effectively and consistently the information was communicated, illuminating the…

Presents a study that asked business professionals and business faculty to critique and evaluate a set of writing samples. Analyzes results from the two groups. Finds that both groups emphasize organization, but professionals also emphasize wording/style, content, and sentence structure more than do faculty, who emphasize conciseness,…

This article discusses the use of a writing assessment rubric to structure writing instruction with examples from two classes of children who are deaf. It considers strategy modifications, using rubrics for instruction, and creating and using rubrics. Tables provide detail for a universal-type rubric, a modified universal-type rubric, a writing…

This article presents and discusses an informal tool, the Idea Development Instrument, for teachers to use with students with learning disabilities to guide writing instruction, to evaluate writing samples, and to provide specific feedback in the area of idea development in written compositions. The assessment instrument is appended. (Contains…

Explores the dynamics of writing college application essays. Analyzes four high school seniors' think-aloud protocols as they composed the essays and college admissions officers' remarks as they read the essays. Finds that successful essayists were able to balance the requested self disclosure and the unstated deep institutional concern for…

Discusses the relationship of assessment and computers as two technological forms that share positivist assumptions about their value-free roles as instruments with application for solving large-scale problems independent of context. Offers suggestions for using computers to deliver, organize, review, and share assessment procedures that include…