Letters from 18 average sixth-grade writers were analyzed for context-creating (background) and persuasive (strategic) text elements. Analysis revealed that sixth graders use context-creating elements to provide helpful background information for their audiences, rely on logical reasoning for persuasion, and have some understanding of text…

A study determined if there was a significant difference in the writing skills of eighth graders after they completed a writing class that based the method of instruction on the writing process. Subjects, 743 students in a midwestern school system, completed the class and were administered pretests and posttests. The results supported the…

The 12 activity-oriented units described in this study skills guide for students in the eighth, ninth, and tenth grades are designed to assist in the development of necessary study skills at most levels of competence and to reinforce already existing skills. The units in the guide also attempt to incorporate as much student activity as possible,…

In the writing of Matthew Arnold, integration, one great impression rather than many great individual lines, is the most important goal. In his essay, "The Function of Criticism at the Present Time," the "blocs" of his thought are in sets of two, three, or even four sentences: in effect, he writes much like a poet, in couplets,…

Paragraphs, as well as sentences, can be spoken of as having a deep and a surface structure. The amount of deep structure of the paragraph that is mapped onto the surface paragraph is related to the mode of discourse in which the paragraph is found: the deep structure in scientific paragraphs is relatively uncomplicated with few assumptions made;…

Reading students whose reading skills are being improved need to learn expository writing in order to be able to organize and express thoughts on paper. This document presents a systematic approach for teaching writing as part of the total communication process and consists of five units. "The Expository Paragraph," designed for use in a skills…

The objectives of this packet on communication skills are to teach elementary students how to organize their ideas, follow directions, correct their own errors, recognize and write a topic sentence, recognize and write a concluding sentence, recognize sentence fragments and run-on sentences, write a paragraph, and effectively communicate with…

This study examined "signals" of relationships between sentences that might be helpful in teaching reading to non-native speakers of English. Logical relationships were given special attention and classified to determine if they could be contained within a limited list to be used for teaching purposes. Five hundred paragraphs (2,720 sentences)…

Designed to correlate the subject matter of English with that of power mechanics, this course guide (1) provides the student with the opportunity for utilizing the skills gained in power mechanics to enter into a vocation and (2) provides the student with enough knowledge to consider post-secondary study. Objectives are divided into four…

Students in grades 4, 5, or 6 can learn to write more concretely, accurately, and deliberately by employing three strategies: (1) elimination of those words or phrases that garble meaning or repeat unnecessarily; (2) substitution of more specific, concrete, and generally more appropriate expressions for ones that are vague and unimaginative; and…

This paper is an outline of a course unit for a writing laboratory, specifically designed for use in teaching English composition to Mexican-Americans. The unit utilizes a multi-media approach to elaborate the necessary organization of a paragraph contrasting two topics. Goals and objectives are included in the unit outline as is a slide/tape…

Describes research that examines the social and the pedagogical factors responsible for differences in the writing skills of elementary grade students. (AM)

Finds that only 70% of sociology textbook paragraphs contain material important for understanding major textbook concepts, that substantive material is not evenly distributed among chapters in the same book, and suggests students be made aware of this as a reinforcement for the importance of selective reading. (MS)

Argues that the paragraph represents a semantic unit, not just a grammatical convention. Presents original research to establish the types and frequencies of certain paragraph formats found in expository material. Discusses the most appropriate time for teaching students the ideational relationships within paragraphs. (FL)

Because the cumulative nature of paragraphs can be compared to that of a sentence, Indian students who learn how to add words to the end of sentences to make them "richer" and more complex can better understand how to improve their writing at the paragraph level. (DS)