Describes the effects of two prewriting strategies for the generation and storage of ideas (external storage and heuristic) on freshman English students' compositions in honors and basic writing classes. Both honors and remedial students produced the best essays when writing under conditions closely approximating their usual prewriting behavior.…

Describes a writing assignment that places emphasis on objective writing, including a special focus on transitions as a way of encouraging students to give greater attention to specific details. Emphasizes the need to be objective and factual and the need for precision and accuracy. (MG)

Discusses the problem of integrating reading, writing, literature, and composition courses. Offers suggestions on new ways to approach literature through writing. (PRA)

Describes an informal experiment designed to explore the relationship between drawing and writing, and the meaning held in the drawings. Finds that drawing should not be relegated only to small children, but should be used to help older students explore their thoughts and feelings as well. (PRA)

Investigates the relationship of specific semantic and syntactic text characteristics to what information readers recall. Confirms that readers are more likely to recall more versus less important information and information in clauses, independent clauses, and first paragraphs. Suggests how writers can use these findings to help readers retain…

Discusses the qualities it takes for journalism students to be good interviewers and outlines several guidelines to follow. Lists seven "Boy Scout rules of interviewing." Gives a list of eight points on how to "punctuate what people say." (SC)

Presents techniques for weaving quotes into a stylish feature story. Describes "Quote Framing" and "Split Quotes," and gives different levels of appropriate and inappropriate uses for each. Suggest that most professional newspapers and magazines are working examples of correct form for the use of quotations, direct and…

Notes that when composition instruction engages students in collaborative inquiry and problem solving, it engages students in rehearsing the active processes of writing arguments, and moves from teacher-led work to group work to independent production. Describes several classroom strategies and procedures that will enable them to be productive…

Exiled to Mussoorie, India, Tibetan students participating in a poetry workshop wrote persuasively about collective rage, communal loss and gratitude, and the shared wish to return home. The author, an American English professor, helped them express their individuality (a non-Tibetan value) while preserving their cultural identity. (MLH)

Discusses the writing of poetry in middle school content classrooms as a link between content area concepts and writing to learn. Describes several poem types, includes poetry samples, and discusses special concerns in implementing poetry writing. (JPB)

Suggests that despite culturally induced aversions, aromas do have a role to play in writing instruction. Suggest there are many examples in literature of authors' treatment of the olfactory sense. Argues that emphasizing smell as a writing stimulant and encouraging olfactory analyses of literary works can serve as valid ways of introducing…

From the early 1900s to the present, there have always been inconsistencies in how teachers evaluate the writing quality of their students' essays. Their critiques vary as much as their personalities. To establish common standards in writing for all courses in which essays are assigned and, at the same time, not infringe on the integrity of…

Writing researchers have developed various methods for investigating the writing process since the 1970s. The early 1980s saw the occurrence of the real-time computer-aided study of the writing process that relies on the protocols generated by recording the computer screen activities as writers compose using the word processor. This article…

Like the previous editions of this bestselling text, "Surviving Your Dissertation: A Comprehensive Guide to Content and Process, Third Edition" offers readers guidance that other dissertation guides often miss, from ways to improve one's writing, to identifying one's learning preferences, to dealing with emotional blocks. Using examples from a…

In this article, the author talks about Natalie Goldberg's "Writing Down the Bones." Over the past 20 years, she has referred to its pages whenever she needs a chapter of cheery Buddhist philosophy to soften an onslaught of editorial rejection slips. In the midst of any heady publishing success, she turns to the book to remind her that,…