In a salute to 200 years of America and academia the author concludes that for all the anniversary's shaky antiquarianism, the prospects facing liberal arts colleges are no more bleak than in 1876. (JT)

Argues that in a society where policy is a function of power, academia is lost unless it has the will to throw off its infatuation with form as against substance and unite under strong leadership to create its own establishment for bartering with the national establishment. (JT)

Argues that technical education prepares people to work for systems while the liberal arts keep us aware that it is more important that systems work for people. (JT)

Taking notes on a teacher-prepared listening guide helped high school students improve on their performance on essay tests. (MKM)

This sociological essay urges the consideration of and the planning for the needs of the rural poor in making decisions about the urban environment. (MDR)

Argues that students must be taught historical methods in order to evaluate historical evidence, determine its relevance to a topic, and produce intelligent papers. Presents an exercise which requires students to write a historical essay based solely upon provided documents, illustrating that interpretations will vary despite common facts. (GEA)

Meaningful student opinion and attitude information is often difficult to obtain, but content analysis of student writing samples such as essays written as a part of a university-wide assessment program in English provide a convenient and economical opportunity to collect such information. (MSE)

Examines reasons for using essay tests in the direct assessment of writing ability. Reviews the steps in developing a large-scale testing program; e.g., creating a pool of topics or prompts; developing scoring procedures; training raters; field-testing the system; scoring writing samples; assessing reliability; and assessing validity. (DMM)

This paper assessed the relationships among holistic writing ability, the Test of Standard Written English, and four tests of organizational ability. Findings showed a significant correlation between writing ability and the tests. It was concluded that tests assessing organizational strategies ought to be included in assessments of writing…

Offers pointers for establishing a college-sponsored essay contest for public school students in grades five through twelve and enumerates the benefits of such a program. (NKA)

Provides bibliographic citations for 53 works by Ojibwe author and satirist, Gerald Vizenor, published from 1966 to 1983: 15 books, 12 short fiction, 2 dramas, 6 poems in anthologies, and 18 articles, editorials, and essays. Includes titles, dates, and places of publication in each entry. (NEC)

Suggests methods for improving the quality of essay exams when teaching literature. (DF)

Describes assignments that integrate ideas from student journals into expository and deliberate essays. (HOD)

It is hypothesized that the readers of an essay respond to a variable in terms of its context with other variables. Sex, race, reader expectation, and quality of handwriting were crossed to study their interaction effects. Results showed complex interactions of expectations, writing, and sex within race. (Author/LMO)

Specific ways in which social studies teachers can increase opportunities for students to write without increasing their own often-incredible paper loads are suggested. These include the holistic scoring of essay tests, read-around-groups, and student journals. (RM)