A study examined factors related to the high failure rate of architectural students at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee on an essay writing task designed to show proficiency in writing before gaining junior standing. Students become eligible to write the essay by getting a score of 65 or better on the Wisconsin English Placement Test (WEPT)…

A synthesis of three different writing theories into one model for the writing process is given in this report and evidence is provided for various parts of the model from studies using different methods of investigation. The model developed contains three phases: (1) processing or whiting as discovery, including propositionalizing, subchunking,…

To determine whether teacher intervention or treatment (the introduction of literary devices used by published writers) during the process of writing would lead to greater incidence and improved use of creative devices in gifted children's writing, ten talented students from the ages of six to eleven were selected to meet with the researcher twice…

A study was conducted to examine how composition characteristics identified on the Diederich scale (ideas, organization, wording, flavor, usage/sentence structure, and punctuation) related to teacher evaluation of student writing. For each of three academic years, teaching assistants of freshman English were given typed, mimeographed copies of…

In a study that investigated the most serious composition problems perceived by teachers of high school senior English and college freshman composition, a questionnaire was sent to all 34 of the Mississippi colleges offering freshman composition and a random sample of 34 Mississippi high schools. Respondents were asked to rate the seriousness of…

A study designed to examine the differences in quality ratings that 20 teachers in each of three senior high school curricular areas (business, English/social studies, and mathematics/science) gave to samples of written argument by college freshmen also investigated the relationship between the three groups of quality ratings and eight syntactic…

Virtually all composition research has been done about teaching methodology; little research about the theory of the process of composition has been done. A 1964 study, the first on the composition process, used as an operational definition the concept of the composing process as being a series: prewriting, writing, and rewriting. This linear…

Two competing paradigms seem to characterize all models of teaching behavior. The first may be labeled as behavior-analytic, detail specific, and structured in that the learner proceeds through prescribed steps toward each goal. The other may be described as inquiry-oriented and learner-centered in that the learner has greater choice of the means…

If the measure of success in nonfiction prose writing is the writer's ability to communicate whatever it is he or she wishes to communicate, the purpose in writing must be defined with reference to the reader. Papers produced for freshman composition courses frequently show that students do not anticipate an audience. Information about audience…

In a study of the revision strategies used by skilled and basic (unskilled) writers, 50 students assigned to an experimental group wrote an expository essay, then rewrote their compositions from memory. A control group of 20 students was given the same assignment, but the students were allowed access to their first drafts. As expected, the control…

This paper specifies the content of composition instruction, some of which can be incorporated into material to be presented by and practiced on a computer. It describes instructional outcomes within the context of an instructional model of the composing situation and discusses them under the following headings: (1) the composing problem, (2)…

Examines whether the cognitive strategies of outlining and draft writing enhance college students' writing performance. Reports that outlines improved the quality of writing, but did not enhance efficiency. Rough drafts did not affect quality or efficiency. A survey of faculty revealed that outlines correlated positively with productivity, whereas…

Investigated relationships between individual differences in (1) levels of writing skills and (2) proficiencies at simultaneous and successive cognitive processing. Correlated students' writings with the following word and sentence level problems: spelling errors, missing or inappropriate punctuation of sentence parts, missing noun and verb…

Evaluates the freshman composition course for students with low standardized test scores at Eastern Illinois University. Finds that the course has been moderately successful in achieving its aim of giving underprepared students a chance of success in college. (SKC)

Uses case studies of intensive writing courses in government, history, and computer science to explain the differences between the disciplinary contexts for writing, and to help tutors in their work with students from those disciplines. (RS)