The North Carolina Annual Testing Program assessed the writing skills of students in Grade 6 and Grade 8 in the 1989-90 school year. Sixth-grade students were asked to write a clarification composition focusing on a special day and explaining to the reader why the day is special, and eighth-grade students were asked to write a letter to their…

The work of Joseph Gusfield provides the framework for analyzing the two different perspectives taken by the Children's Defense Fund (CDF) and Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) to combat teen pregnancy. Gusfield first analyzed how the problem emerged and then identified "ownership" of the problem. According to Gusfield, the…

A study examined whether billboard advertising of tobacco and alcohol products is differentially targeted toward White, Black, Asian, and Hispanic neighborhoods. The study analyzed 901 billboards in neighborhood commercial districts in San Francisco, California, giving particular attention to tobacco and alcohol billboards. Neighborhood census…

The contexts and purposes for civic writing may influence the composition process as well as text features, and an analysis of the purposes and audiences for civic writing might yield an insight into the way that such writing stimulates the personal and moral development of both its readers and writers. An examination of two related pieces written…

The film "Pieces of a Puzzle" (part of the series "Writers Writing" that was coproduced by WNET and Learning Designs and televised by WNET in 1985), helped students become better writers and facilitated the discovery of material and techniques appropriate to academic writing. First, students were introduced to reader response…

A study analyzed argumentative essays written to both friendly and hostile audiences by 12 high school seniors, 24 college freshmen, and 16 college juniors and seniors. The high school students were randomly selected from college-bound English classes that had stressed reading and writing about literature but had also included some work in…

To illustrate the incorporation of liberal arts values into the speech communication curriculum, this paper presents a rationale for creating a public speaking course that emphasizes the analysis of current critical issues. The paper argues that by requiring students to speak on important issues, rather than on personal topics, they will need to…

Noting the call for research that links argument theory with negotiation, this paper examines the nature and function of argument negotiation in current organizational bargaining research theories. Five perspectives are extrapolated to define "argument" and demonstrate how different viewpoints can affect understanding of the negotiation…

With the advent of the process approach to teaching writing, the use of products or models in the composition classroom has declined, replaced by heuristic exploration of the rhetorical situation, with special emphasis on audience analysis. Some researchers have emphasized the difference between internal audiences and audiences external to the…

Various approaches have traditionally been used to evaluate college students' writing performance. The College Outcome Measures Program (COMP), designed to assess and improve college programs, offers new ways to collect writing samples that include responses to reasoning and problem solving tasks. Thus, the effectiveness of written communication…

Concurring that the more sociology and history draw upon each other's discipline, the better for both, this paper argues that the study of mass media presentations of deviance is one line of inquiry that lends itself to the realization of this dictum. The paper first explores some of the shortcomings that historians and sociologists share, noting…

American foreign policy must operate within the parameters of public opinion, and governmental and non-governmental actors must educate the characteristically alienated citizenry concerning policy issues. Since rational discourse is of limited benefit in the process, advocates instead use verbal representations or metaphor to instill within the…

To extend the resistance-to-persuasion literature into a context relevant to public relations, a study examined the reactions of 147 Michigan State University students after viewing edited versions of President Ronald Reagan's televised address of February 26, 1986. Reagan's address, concerning his request for public support of an increase in…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 17 titles deal with the following topics: (1) the symbolic processing of continuity and change using the case of Carl F. H. Henry, (2) rhetorical strategies and image projection in John F. Kennedy's presidential campaign, (3) the…

A study examined how the factors of sex, tolerance for ambiguity, conflict management style, and argumentativeness relate to the prediction of innovativeness. Ninety-six K-12 public school teachers in a northeastern school district were surveyed using self-report measures for innovativeness, ambiguity tolerance, conflict management style, and…