Examines the effects on writing of involving students in using strategies of defining as inquiry, versus the effects of their analyzing and initiating model definitions. (HOD)

Argues that technical writing should be limited to the study and teaching of pragmatic conventions relevant to actual technical communication situations. Specifically examines whether proposal writing should be included in technical writing instruction, and the place of empirical research as criteria for determining relevant conventions. (HTH)

Discusses the importance of audience awareness in technical writing and offers suggestions to help students characterize the readers of their writing. (AEA)

In this electronic age, handwriting seems to have lost its place in America's classrooms. But while today's students do use the computer for many projects, ultimately they need to have legible handwriting--for employment applications, loan applications, formal social correspondence, note taking, and test taking. Here, the authors call for a…

This report presents the findings from a 2-stage, multi-method study conducted in 2000 and 2001 on the editing skills and processes which students at two schools in New Zealand used when working with word processors and with pencils. The study's main aim was to examine the influence of the use of a word processor on students' editing processes and…

For an instructor who is working to reconcile "collaboration" and "feminism" in composition studies, it is necessary to explore how this critical coupling provides potential conflicts in theories and pedagogical practices. The following three premises need to be explored: (1) feminist collaborative methods and theorizing may…

Researchers seem to discuss only rarely the actual activities and strategies involved in the research process. Part of the problem is in the current conception of research method, which continues to insist that empirical methods are neutral procedures for obtaining results. At every step of the research process, researchers discursively construct…

This collection of essays discusses writing program administrators' (WPAs') research. The essays pose several questions to characterize WPAs' research practices: "What is WPA research? What characterizes WPA research and the sites of WPA inquiry?"; and "What values guide WPA research?" The 14 chapters are divided into 2 parts, "Writing Program…

Reviews Emig's methodology, highlighting both the timeliness of her study, and the flaws in her generalizations about writing teachers' expertise. Cautions against depending upon her results and those of similar studies, as the final word on the writing process. (HTH)

Explores the use of topical structure analysis as a way to understand some textual cues that may prompt revision and as a way to describe the effects of revision. Describes the methodology, results, and implications of a study of some of the textual causes and effects of revision. (HTH)

Concludes that there is some congruence between the majority of Nova Scotia's English teachers' beliefs about writing and some aspects of current research findings concerning the writing process. (AEA)

Concludes that the rhetorical specification approach to developing essay examination topics (giving writers information about the purpose of a composition, its audience, speaker, and subject) may not be the best way to elicit good writing. (JL)

Examines the modes of self-evaluation of writing quality as reported by professional writers, college students, writing instructors, and publishers. Suggests that writer resistance to self-evaluation may be healthy and that such evaluation should not come prematurely. However, without such evaluation, writers gain little from having written. (HTH)

Discusses research on the nature and strategies of children's invented spelling, including a developmental model of such spelling. Suggests ways to encourage invented spelling, while examining whether it will interfere with learning to read and write standard spelling. (HTH)

Presents and discusses research on the intellectual processes that writers engage in to attain what is commonly called "audience awareness." (RL)