Examines whether the cognitive strategies of outlining and draft writing enhance college students' writing performance. Reports that outlines improved the quality of writing, but did not enhance efficiency. Rough drafts did not affect quality or efficiency. A survey of faculty revealed that outlines correlated positively with productivity, whereas…

Investigated relationships between individual differences in (1) levels of writing skills and (2) proficiencies at simultaneous and successive cognitive processing. Correlated students' writings with the following word and sentence level problems: spelling errors, missing or inappropriate punctuation of sentence parts, missing noun and verb…

Evaluates the freshman composition course for students with low standardized test scores at Eastern Illinois University. Finds that the course has been moderately successful in achieving its aim of giving underprepared students a chance of success in college. (SKC)

Uses case studies of intensive writing courses in government, history, and computer science to explain the differences between the disciplinary contexts for writing, and to help tutors in their work with students from those disciplines. (RS)

Compares deaf writers to basic writers with normal hearing in terms of their apparent attention to grammatical correctness. Finds that deaf subjects devoted substantially less attention to grammatical decision making during composition. (MS)

Helps the teacher of composition who is seeking the most current sources of information about computer programs for writing classes. Provides starred items for novice computer users and suggests "English Microlab Registry" for a listing of colleges and universities that have computer laboratories for writing.(NH)

Suggests that the loss of early American rhetorical traditions encouraged approaches to writing that emphasized prescriptive rules without acknowledging the art involved in the process, but that current "practical rhetoric" is more aligned with the art of composing and is both theoretically and empirically based. (SKC)

Describes recent advances in writing analysis and their implications for English as a second language writing instruction. The principal theme emphasized is that text analysis of written products, which complements process-centered research, is needed for an integrated theory of writing. (Author/CB)

Discusses some metaphors used by professional writers when describing their revising activities to interviewers and suggests the implications of their use for research on writing. (NH)

Compares cohesive ties and chains in the good and poor essays of college freshmen. Results indicate that longer chains, greater variety of words, and greater maturity or word choice characterize good writing. (SRT)

Claims that the controversy about whether writing is a process or a product is largely unnecessary because writing is clearly both. States that the real argument in the profession regards what constitutes (1) useful research, (2) the tools needed to do it, and (3) the vocabulary within which it should be conducted. (JD)

Supports a reader oriented theory of paragraph writing. Discusses the readers' expectations of paragraphs and supporting research, demonstrates the strengths and weaknesses of the most popular current model of paragraph structure, demonstrates the power of rhetorical paragraph writing, and details the pedagogical implications of the…

Provides only slender support for the idea that there are age-related or ability-related differences in the revisions made by fifth-, seventh-, and eleventh-grade writers. (FL)

The study examined the impact of computer technology on written business communication. Experimental groups (using microcomputers) and control groups (using typewriters) produced four written assignments. Findings indicate that computer use has a positive effect on attitudes about assignments but no effect on time efficiency or product quality.…

Reports on a study of writing apprehension in writing center tutors, results of which indicated a strong correspondence between various dimensions of writing apprehension and specific teaching behaviors that do not aid the student in problem detection or writing improvement. (HTH)