Discusses educational standards and accountability at open-door colleges. Suggests that reading, organizing, synthesizing, and writing skills are of prime importance and that, in order to strengthen these skills, at least one-third of all course testing should use a subjective format. (DR)

The study suggests that developing greater facility in linguistic skills may well produce greater cognitive differentiation and enhance the process of objectification. (Author)

Discusses the Russian master, Leo Tolstoy, and the fact that he wrote pedagogical treatises besides novels. Talks about his free school for children on his estate and his research on education. Discusses two of Tolstoy's essays which recount interactions with the peasant children. Links this to teaching an adult writing workshop at a soup kitchen.…

Exposes the two basic myths underlying Carter's position on the discreteness of linguistic description, which are the myth of objectivity and the common-sense myth of language. It is concluded that stylistic analysis is an attempt to spread one's influence and to persuade readers of the validity of one's own response to literary texts. (14…

Makes several points relating to personal essays: (1) personal essays can be defined as having "presence"; (2) the personal essay is both historically and currently a relative rarity; (3) "personal" does not necessarily mean a display of innermost self; (4) voguish denials of the human subject militate against the personal essay; and (5) personal…

Argues that second language students learning to write academic essays can be assisted by concordancing authentic texts in specialist corpora of relevant genres and topics. A case is made for the development of different corpora with different genres for learners to access in an interactive computer-assisted writing environment. (20 references)…

Notes that in a familiar essay, the form is determined by the peculiar way that a person tells a story. Contends that the act of writing needs no preconceived outline, reserving the right for the writing to seek its own shape, order, and texture. Concludes that conceived and composed in this way, the essay bears allegiance to the writer. (PM)

Discusses two student essays on the same topic, one of which is very successful, whereas the other fails to pass. Argues that the successful student is able to construct a powerful authoritative textual and discoursal identity for himself. Uses systemic functional grammar to demonstrate how he has recourse to the linguistic features of authority…

Proposes that it is essential for creative nonfiction writers to establish a personal ethics of telling. Contends that it is irresponsible of college writing teachers to allow students to think of classrooms as extended diaries where all that matters is that the student get it down on the page. Concludes that in the end, each writer is accountable…

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…

Investigates the effects of consistency of candidates' performance across questions within an examination paper based on examiners' judgments of A level grade-worthiness for biology and sociology examinations. Finds that inconsistent performance produced lower judgments in biology, while very consistent performance was preferred in sociology.…

Considers how the College Essay Program, a long-standing tradition in the North Salem Central School District, helps students prepare a written personal statement essay for needs such as college admission applications. Concludes that college essays are engaging personal statements, difficult to write down, that bring a human dimension to the…

Describes a freshman writing course in which students practiced various forms of writing. Explains that students began by reading both a personal essay (Annie Dillard's "Pilgrim at Tinker Creek") and poems (such as works by William Wordsworth). Notes that students later prepared scientific research papers. Suggests that nature writing…

Investigates the marker-marker reliability of an examination for a third-year degree course in circuit theory. Reports that the coefficient of correlation between markers fell within the range 0.94 to 0.98. (YP)

Given that writing should be an instructional vehicle in almost every curricular subject and that college students should learn to think while reading and writing effectively, what techniques might help a hypothetical history instructor challenge students to learn something new while answering essay questions? This article provides some sample…