In popular culture, the word "research" is a term of reverence--in academe it is virtually a mantra. Research in any field may wish to seem detached and objective, but it is always political, whether it involves launching rockets or teaching writing, and it depends on a crisis mentality to support it. In the late 1950s and the early 1960s, that…

In order to study the theory and practice of collaborative writing, a three-stage research project was initiated. The first stage of research involved a questionnaire sent to 200 randomly selected members of six major professional associations. On a separate sheet accompanying the first questionnaire, respondents were asked to indicate whether…

This newsletter contains 32 abstracts of approximately 1000 words each of papers presented at the 1988 conference of the National Testing Network in Writing. Abstracts, listed with their authors, include "Instructional Directions from Large Scale K-12 Writing Assessments" (C. Chew); "Portfolio Assessment across the Curriculum: Early Conflicts" (C.…

A study investigated what fourth grade students understand about composing personal narrative discourse. Specifically, the study explored what the subjects understood about structuring personal narrative texts and about evaluating a narrated experience for an audience. Subjects were 13 fourth grade students, and the methodology consisted of…

In a study exploring how writers use audience awareness and how that awareness is related to the writer's age, four eighteen-year-old and four nine-year-old writers were assigned letters to write for two different audiences: a friend and a great aunt whom they had never met. Thinking-aloud writing protocols were produced at the time of writing. At…

A study was conducted to examine the collaborative writing process of a group of executives at a financially unstable computer software company as they wrote a business plan to encourage investment in the company and to determine how the process affected the corporate structure. Data were collected from field notes, tape recorded meetings, open…

The composing processes of apprehensive and nonapprehensive college freshmen writers were explored in a case study of two female students. The two students, one a high apprehensive and the other a low apprehensive writer, completed a questionnaire that elicited information about their attitudes toward writing, writing concerns, time spent writing,…

As part of an evaluation of its scientific and technical information program, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) conducted a review and analysis of structural, language, and presentation components of its technical report form. The investigation involved comparing and contrasting NASA's publications standards for technical…

A study tested the hypothesis that essay examination topics specifying full rhetorical contexts are superior to less information-laden versions of the same topics. Subjects were 360 college students who were given 45 minutes to write essays on 6 topics phrased at 3 information (or specificity of rhetorical context) levels--high, low, and moderate.…

A study was conducted to determine how much practice in sentence combining was necessary for black college students to reach a peak in syntactic growth. Thirty-three freshman composition students, the majority of whom had verbal Scholastic Aptitude Test scores ranging from 300 to 350, participated in the study. In addition to the regular…

Intended for junior high and high school writing instructors, this booklet provides prewriting activities designed to help students master the thinking strategies essential to effective written communication. The first portion of the booklet discusses theory and research on the role of thinking strategies in writing and gives an overview of the…

A study investigated the role of writing apprehension in the writing competency and performance of college students. Specifically, the study examined whether high writing apprehensives would perform differently than low apprehensives on standardized tests of writing-related skills and on two different types of essays. Based on the results of a…

In view of research findings that unskilled writers are rule-based rather than context-based in revision of their written work, a study was conducted of the stage between writing a rough draft and the teacher conference to determine how inexperienced writers would articulate their performance and evaluate their strategies for revision. An…

A study of the relationship between the quantity of writing assignments and writing apprehension involved 352 college students enrolled in 20 classes in eight discipline areas. Writing apprehension was measured by using the Daly-Miller writing apprehension inventory as a pretest and posttest. Tasks involving learning-centered writing (writing…

Designed for educators actively involved with the teaching of writing, this summary report contains an overview of the background, major findings, and recommendations of the 1979 Manitoba (Canada) Writing Assessment Program. Various sections of the report provide the following information: (1) highlights of the general report of the program; (2)…