Describes how professional writers from Bell Northern Research, enrolled in a professional writing program, designed a quick reference guide for in-house use, and then provided a theoretical framework to ground and explain their visual design choices. Offers the instructor's theoretical reflections on how visual design can motivate readers to read…

Investigates effects of training for peer response in freshman composition classes during one semester. States that students in the experimental group were trained via teacher-student conferences where teachers met with students to practice peer response strategies, while students in the control group received no systematic training. Finds that…

Presents results of a German study distinguishing between effects of knowledge on writing and re-effects of writing on knowledge. Reports that knowledge primarily affects the content domain of text, especially topic relatedness and logical structure of text, but not the linguistic domain. Concludes that both oral and written verbalization enables…

Analyzes college writing teachers' dialog learning logs. Finds that groups of teachers developed particular learning foci. Discusses response patterns in log writing and in group interactions. (SR)

Explicates issues related to teaching, evaluating, and remediating handwriting, via a case study. States that children with handwriting problems need empathy, understanding, early identification, and remedial assistance. (SR)

Argues that a major component of writing programs at all educational levels should be "lifewriting," including biographical, anecdotal, and expressive modes of discourse. Outlines reasons for viewing lifewriting as a valuable component of writing instruction. Provides a basic framework of three diverse programs utilizing lifewriting. (HB)

Examines the differences between peer response groups and writing tutorials. Gives a brief history of each, and discusses them in terms of determining goals, setting the agenda for collaboration, and methods. Offers some cautionary reminders. (SR)

Conducts a case study of the problem identification and resolution strategies of three basic writers. Finds that basic writers are capable of evaluating surface-level problems and rhetorical problems in both their own and peers' texts if instructors provide them with opportunities to do so. (RS)

Studies how formerly weak writers manage to write adequately for their jobs. Concludes that the rhetorical, psychological, and social environment of the workplace fosters better writing in basic writers than the academic environment. Recommends writing across the curriculum for duplicating the workplace-writing content in college writing classes.…

Summarizes traditional views about power relations in the workplace and their effects on writing. Tests these assumptions against medieval business correspondence and technical writing in the nuclear power industry. Discusses how these large-scale hierarchical organizational structures profoundly influence written communication. (RS)

Reviews studies on the effects of introducing word processing to basic writers. Presents the findings of an original pilot study which concludes that computer instruction causes basic students to write more. Suggests ways of improving instruction and obtaining more consistent results in future studies. (HB)

Finds an approach to improving revision skills that integrated strategy instruction, peer response, and word processing to be highly effective with seventh- and eighth-grade students with learning disabilities. (SR)

Analyzes how students from different interpretive communities shape academic texts. Examines subjects' texts in terms of writers' manipulation of both content and procedural knowledge. Suggests that mere participation in an interpretive community without explicit instruction in its ways of writing can enhance students' ability to write in that…

Draws upon the writing of and conversations with three fourth grade children as they provide insights into how their writing was associated with learning. Demonstrates how these children are involved in creating themselves and their social identities at the same time they are constructing textual meaning in the context of school-based writing…

Observes two writing teachers, enthusiastic about computers, teaching for the first time in networked computer classrooms. Finds resistance to change attributable to unfamiliarity with hardware and software, the need to cope with print text and electronic text, and conflict between models of writing instruction brought to the facility and that…