This report, part of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) survey, describes one facet of the national assessment of writing. The students--9-, 13-, and 17-year-olds who constitute the sample for the NAEP studies--were told to use their best writing but were not told that their papers would be examined for mechanical correctness.…

The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which the currently taught methods of paragraph development are actually used in contemporary expository writing. Composition textbooks published since 1960 were examined to ascertain which methods of development are being taught. To discover the types of paragraph development found in…

The effect on student writing of Communications I classes at the University of Northern Colorado was tested using 95 students studying under 5 different teachers and 15 students who had participated in a previous study. Two paragraphs, one written at the beginning of the term and one at the end of the term were rated for organization, development,…

Describes a method for teaching composition skills based on the reading and rewriting of different texts. (AM)

This study examines children's knowledge of structural properties of expository text: topical relatedness, superordination, and cohesion. Nearly all who completed the paragraph-construction tasks were able to identify paragraphs. Seventh-graders were adept at describing what makes a paragraph but experienced difficulty in placing main-idea…

Argues that although textbooks emphasize the importance of attention-getting introductions, such devices are hard to explain and hard for students to recognize. Observes that such an emphasis may suggest to students a vastly oversimplified view of the reading process. (HOD)

Examines coherence between sentences in a paragraph, arguing that readers require coherence at this level as well as between paragraphs. Discusses continuative and discontinuative relationships between sentences, including (1) sequence, (2) exemplification, (3) addition, (4) replacement, (5) contrast, and (6) alternation. (HTH)

Describes a method for helping students see the importance of a topic sentence to achieve unity in written paragraphs. Students note all red items in the classroom. Parallels are then drawn between the way concentrating on red limits notice of other details and the way topic sentences limit and focus the details in a paragraph. (HTH)

Argues that paragraph form congruent with the patterns and habits of thinking develops from the writer's sensitivity to the impact of visual images on the reader's mind. (MM)

The principles discussed in this essay are the basis for a composition text being prepared by the author for McGraw Hill. (RY)

The standard organizational features of an essay (title, introduction, main body, and conclusion), together with their specific functions, constitute an established but neglected convention that enables students to write conventional essays and to appreciate the uses of variation in essay form. (HOD)

Presents comments from five contributors concerning ways to improve parent workshops, the children's literature requirements for teacher certification, paragraph construction, note writing as a way to improve writing skills, and an in-depth study of the works of Maurice Sendak. (FL)

The authors contend that because sentence-combining exercises provide students with disciplined writing practice without the sometimes paralyzing pressure to be "creative," they are probably the most basic and useful means of preparing students for writing original compositions. Presented is a sentence-combining exercise. (KC)