Interviews Karen Cushman about "The Midwife's Apprentice," the 1996 Newbery Medal Book. (SR)

Explains how a teacher teaches process writing in her mainstream high school classes, despite her obligation to cover grammar, literature, vocabulary, research, and communication. Shows how some approaches to process writing can be modified to fit it into a tighter, more structured course. (TB)

Discusses effects of new technology on writing by assessing whether an experienced writer's style of writing changes with new technology. Compares typed word-processed letters with dictated word-processed letters after a change to a voice recognition system and indicates more of an influence on the writing process than on the written products.…

Interviews Oliver Sacks, a doctor and author of eight books. Discusses his newest book, his upbringing, and memory. Explains how the medical profession influences his writing. (PM)

Discusses the adequacy of two modes of presenting information on a computer screen, the "alternating" (screen by screen) presentation and the "simultaneous" screen presentation (different information on one screen at the same time). Tests subjects performing writing tasks using one online document or two documents, using either…

Presents brief annotations of 11 books and journal articles (published between 1971 and 1996) useful to teachers, that address the teaching and learning of spelling. (SR)

Contends that essays are the proper rhetorical domain of stories, the place where stories most naturally belong when they are being used for the development and enlargement of ideas. Notes that stories are so powerful and distracting that when used together to make a familiar story, they can divert attention away from the essay's idea. Concludes…

This article presents a writing process wheel that has been designed as a task-specific tool for assisting teachers of students with learning disabilities to develop writing competence. The wheel displays five writing stages (prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publication) in a circular fashion with appropriate activities for each stage.…

Discusses word processing computer programs' potential to perform operations similar to those performed by computer assisted instruction (CAI). Suggests not abandoning CAI software entirely for the CAI potential of word processors. (RS)

Maintains that it is correct to acknowledge in scholarly writing journals that writing is hard, often frustrating work, but that the satisfaction of writing also needs to be addressed. Argues that student writers need to be encouraged to discover and even savor the range of large and small rewards which attend their own writing and thinking. (RS)

Determines whether writing skills are hierarchically organized. Finds that writing begins with the primary process of responsiveness and ends with the terminal skill of mechanics. Suggests that the proportion of instructional time devoted to mechanics and editing skills should exceed that devoted to the primary skills of topic relevance and…

Discusses the importance of students reading their own writing to others to help them see the connection between what they have written and the sounds of their own voice. (MG)

Analyzes why conceptual ambiguity surrounds the subject of writing plans: why they are viewed alternatively favorably and unfavorably; why they are sometimes mental and sometimes written constructs; and why they are sometimes indistinguishable from writing goals. Concludes that one problem is the view of writing as product. (SG)

Examines the writings of an engineer employed by a large manufacturing firm. Argues that the engineer's writing, although not the final product, is the essential means by which the product is created. Suggests that, because a report reflects final, agreed-upon knowledge about a product, the product and the document become one in the engineer's…

Compares White and African-American basic writers' texts produced during districtwide holistic writing assessments. Shows that White basic writers differ little from African-American basic writers, although African-Americans tend to use a stronger personal voice and drop standard word ending. Concludes that dialect is not the key issue. (MG)