This booklet offers practical ideas, specific examples, and realistic solutions to the most common writing problems that administrators face. The booklet's four chapters are: (1) Writing Basics (ideas on organization, reasons to write, writers' responsibilities, getting personal, and writing for a particular occasion); (2) Getting Started (getting…

Freewriting, according to Peter Elbow, is based on an equal affirmation of the student's experience, and his or her right to ground behaviors and writing in those experiences. Insofar as the term "free" in freewriting can be linked to a notion that expression is an event which occurs between a socially and culturally autonomous subject…

In this article, the author notes that it is not an uncommon scenario for a student assigned an argumentative paper in the composition classroom to appropriate a "hot" topic from the currency of public discourse, one for which they often already have a pre-formed opinion that becomes codified simultaneously with the need to formulate a…

This workbook is intended to aid in the preparation of the New York State Conservation/Preservation Discretionary Grant Program application and should be used in conjunction with the current Discretionary Grant Guidelines. The workbook contains hints on grant writing, a completed sample cover sheet and other application forms, good and…

A course in speech writing (preparing speeches for delivery by another person) is critical to the development of public speaking skills for college students. Unlike the traditional public speaking course, speech writing classes emphasize the preparation of the content of a speech over the delivery of the message. Students develop the ability to…

Individuals mostly write texts which are directed to other persons, the readers. Even though individuals cannot rely on immediate reactions, as in spoken dialogue, they are nevertheless able to communicate successfully with them. A writing experiment focused on the role of the addressee in the writing process. Writers grouped in pairs were asked…

A study investigated the effects of four writing strategies on fifth graders' idea production across three aims of discourse (informative, expressive, and persuasive) and the effect of gender. The four strategies tested were clustering, drawing, freewriting, and thinking. More than 100 children from varied socioeconomic backgrounds and ethnic…

This paper describes, reflects on, and analyzes the process of engaging student writers in a creative-critical writing workshop in which they not only work toward presenting a portfolio of original work, but are engaged in performance, dramatic intervention, and creative challenges to texts. The paper explains how students are invited to meet…

This article suggests one way of categorizing types of factual writing and introduces a teaching strategy for developing students' awareness of structural and language features of many factual genres. It is based on genre theory and the idea that generic structures of texts are determined by the purpose of the text. Six nonfiction genres are…

This article offers ideas as to how students can collaborate as they learn about and utilize a variety of text types (also known as rhetorical modes). The article begins with explanations of the teaching of text types and cooperative learning. The longest section of the article consists of examples of ways that students can use cooperative…

Presents a 30-month case study of how one business writer made decisions concerning audience. Suggests that audience theory does not adequately describe the cognitive and social decisions writers make in real-world professional contexts, with intrinsic internal factors such as writer's creditability, financial rewards, and promotions affecting…

Offers excerpts from Kenneth Koch's classic book in which he tells how he and Kate Farrell taught poetry writing to elderly people in a nursing home. Describes four poetry writing classes, first giving students' poems, then Koch's commentary. (PA)

States that persuasion as a discourse mode in composition classrooms tends to emphasize conflict and polarize students' positions. Proposes a "negotiative" mode of writing, focusing on the reader to achieve a cooperative settlement to opposing argument positions. Uses strategies including dialogic styles and structures that address issues of…

States that Crystal Eastman and Alice Hamilton, organizers of the Workers' Health Bureau, helped shape the early 20th-century health and safety communication field by targeting texts to professional and popular audiences which sought to prevent occupational accidents and disease by promoting voluntary efforts by employers, government regulation,…

Studied how preacademic students acquired revision strategies based upon their individual cognitive abilities. Revision Cuing Devices, teacher intervention and student reaction, peer support and collaboration, think-aloud protocols, and holistic assessments were used to develop individual strategies. Eventually revision support faded without signs…