Discusses the career of Victor J. Vitanza as a teacher of composition, an administrator of a major writing program, and a leading scholar. Includes questions and responses concerning pedagogy, theory, the emerging field of composition studies, and other topics. (HB)

Claims that despite the fact that writing research has drawn extensively on cognitive processes, little research has been done to describe the role that the unconscious and emotions play in the writing process. Offers a pedagogy designed to enable students to draw writing energy from the realm of the unconscious. (HB)

Some professional writers view word processing as liberating; others are apprehensive. Teacher anecdotes reveal that word processing cannot substitute for instruction but can be an important tool. Research concludes that many writers enjoy using word processing and believe it enhances composing, revising, and quality. (95 references). (SK)

Describe the specifically literary nature of engineering design and discusses preliminary evidence concerning how students of design engineering manage their literacy practice. (SR)

Investigates convergent and divergent validity of inferences from selected measures of structure, coherence, and quality for compositions. Finds (1) strong support for validity of inferences from the structure measures, serious questions of inferences from coherence measures, and weak support for quality measures; (2) some evidence for the…

Investigates whether two versions of a letter (one consistently applying the principles of you-attitude and positive emphasis at the sentence level, the other one violating these principles) requesting participation in a research project elicited the same response rate. Finds that, contrary to received wisdom, the letter violating these principles…

Compares paragraph topic sentence use in technical writing with four other kinds of writing. Shows topic sentences used less often in technical texts. Investigates two textual factors influencing topic sentence variation. Shows topic sentence use constrained jointly by rhetorical genre and paragraph length. Offers pedagogical applications. (SR)

Interviews Linda Flower, who discusses her beginnings as a researcher, her insights into the role of context in the composing process, her work with classroom teachers, her present involvement with community literacy projects, and how her ideas and research have changed through time. (MG)

Presents revised versions of four symposium papers examining the work of linguist, teacher, and educator of teachers James Britton. Includes "James Britton: An Impressionistic Sketch" (Mary Kay Tirrell); "Collaborating with Jimmy Britton" (Gordon M. Pradl); "Rejoicing in the Margins" (John Warnock); and "A…

Argues that Marcia Peoples Halio's "Student Writing: Can the Machine Maim the Message?" (which argues that students using IBM computers wrote better than those using Macintosh computers) is seriously flawed by methodological and interpretive errors. Explains the problems of Halio's article. Notes that the present article grew out of a…

Argues that Marcia Peoples Halio's "Student Writing: Can the Machine Maim the Message?" (which argues that students using IBM computers wrote better than those using Macintosh computers) is flawed by poor experimental design and is filled with questionable logic and evidence. Contends that she overlooks many specific features that make…

Presents a detailed critique of Marcia Peoples Halio's article "Student Writing: Can the Machine Maim the Message?" (which argues that students using IBM computers wrote better than those using Macintosh computers). Rejects the "Macintosh versus IBM" contention. Explores ways technology influences education and the growing…

Responds to criticisms of "Student Writing: Can the Machine Maim the Message?." Argues that cognitive psychologists, human computer interaction specialists, and teachers have provided "heavy support." Supports the use of "Writer's Workbench," the writing topic selection, self-selection, teaching methods, computer…

Discusses briefly three reports (a meta-analysis, a project description, and a reformulation of the "quality" question) on the usefulness of word processors and telecommunications in improving student writing. (SR)

Describes, in a study of an insurance company's communication department, how three written products served as parts of larger messages in multiple media campaigns; an attempt to combine composing processes for print and video failed; and conflicting generic and stylistic properties of other media caused an intermedial graft to fail. (SR)