Presents a brief report of a study along with an extensive criticism of this and other studies that use contrived tasks for investigating children's humor and writing. (FL)

This study examined effects of editing and cooperation on an instruction writing task performance on an individual transfer task. Results showed: (1) dyads significantly outperformed individuals on communication score; (2) noneditors outperformed editors; (3) completeness score with editors outperformed individuals on the first task; and (4) no…

Lists scholarly works published during the past year that would be of particular interest to those who administer, work in, or make use of writing centers. Includes only works directly connected to writing center theory and practice. (HTH)

Replies to Steinberg's article on protocol analysis in this issue and argues that even if the writing process is a problem-solving process, it is too complex to analyze sufficiently using protocols. (SRT)

Discusses the reason for the delay of designing and executing a case study method for writing center tutorials. (EL)

Describes an informal classroom research project that explored how children perceive the changes they make in their writing and what they think about when they write. (HTH)

Concludes that readers recall syntactic subjects very poorly. Suggests that to understand more precisely how readers represent such subjects in memory, new and rich models of language and of possible domains in text will be needed. (FL)

Reviews a survey of members of the College Section of the National Council of Teachers of English concerning their use of grading scales in the evaluation of freshman writing. Concludes that the theoretical interest in the scales is apparently not matched by their use by teachers. (FL)

Elementary school students evaluated compositions that had been written by peers, then discussed the factors upon which their rankings were based. Results indicate that the bases for evaluation fall into four categories: feelings aroused by text, responses to surface features, responses to text as understood, and responses to craftsmanship. (FL)

Compares successive versions of research proposals prepared by two different biologists to show how, in revisions of their texts, they altered their personae and their relations to the literature of their fields. (FL)

Notes that the research consequences of current problems in composition bibliography have not been widely understood. Explores four special features of the composition field that have made bibliographic control difficult: (1) field demarcation; (2) taxonomy and terminology; (3) publication format, purpose, and intended audience; and (4)…

Describes a study which explored developmental changes in preschoolers' knowledge of the writing system. The children were asked to write four utterances without knowing the purpose of the request and without additional explanations. The purpose was to determine how early children's graphic responses in decontextualized situations have features of…

Considers four issues that arise from work on origin and evolution of writing: (1) the functions of writing, (2) influence of writing and writing systems on the writer, (3) role of writing topic on writing, and (4) writing and the decontextualization of knowledge. Also considers the implications of these issues for research on and the teaching of…

Surveys more than 100 "authorities"--writing researchers or officials of the National Writing Project--to determine what they believe teachers should be doing in the writing classroom. (FL)

Examines some of the variables that have been found to affect topic choice and writing performance in writing assessment. (FL)