A current selection from the many citations of material in the ERIC database, this bibliography offers practical information for introducing and implementing writing across the curriculum programs in elementary and secondary schools. The bibliography is divided into sections on (1) writing across the curriculum (8 citations); (2) writing to learn…

The state of education today is a somewhat long story whose plot includes progress, accomplishment, mediocrity, and failure. Trends in achievement over the last two decades are mixed. Americans are gaining in equality of educational achievement. High school students read rather well (at least compared to the common understanding) and write quite…

Sequenced writing assignments--a series of related writing tasks--offer students frequent opportunities to write and to acquire writing skills through redundancy, progressively more complicated cognitive and rhetorical demands, and a diversity of learning activities. The most frequently identified goal of sequencing is to move students beyond…

An exploratory study investigated the relationship between students' achievement in and perceptions of a freshman composition course based on the collaborative skill rehearsal model. This model involves preparation for writing through rehearsal, in small group activities, of skills students will need to successfully complete their individual work.…

Developed to provide teachers with a framework for writing instruction, this handbook presents the objectives for writing in the elementary schools from kindergarten through grade 8. After a brief overview of the handbook, information covered includes: (1) a description of writing types (creative expression, narration, exposition, persuasion, and…

Sentence combining can act as a corrective for the large number of language arts lessons and activities that emphasize errors. Based on familiar sentence patterns, sentence combining provides models of effective language use and encourages students to examine and try more expressive and interesting styles of speaking and writing. Sentence…

Interpreting Aristotle's criteria for persuasive writing--ethos, logos, and pathos--as a concern for writer, language, and audience creates both an effective model for persuasive writing and a structure around which to organize discussions of relevant rhetorical issues. Use of this heuristic to analyze writing style, organization, and content…

Teachers can use a variety of techniques to help students learn to manage the writing process of generating ideas, writing, and revising material. To assist students in developing their ideas about a topic, acquiring additional information, and integrating new information with previous ideas--all part of the generating phase--teachers can give…

A study investigated cognitive behaviors and processes that contribute to writer's block. Subjects were 10 college undergraduates who had scored at the extreme ends of a writer's block measurement instrument. The 10, 6 "high-blockers" and 4 "low-blockers," varied in their English experience, class standing, and majors. Each was given a writing…

The writing done in a biology class has a great deal in common with the writing done in the humanities and the social sciences. Because the scientific method of investigation requires the student to examine and understand the physical world by asking questions and then answering them through empirical investigation, clear and concise writing is…

Designed for middle or high school students in Marlboro Township, Marlboro, New Jersey, the teen authors program involves students in the writing, editing, illustration and "publication" of children's books. The instructional unit takes 2 to 3 weeks to complete and culminates with an "author's day" where the student authors…

A three-phased writing assignment in Freshman Composition helps students move from writing narration and description to producing writing which supports and argues a point. In the first phase, the students are asked to write a paper which clearly states a point. In the second phase, students alter their first paper to conform to the needs of a…

A case study examined how the adult student population redefines the subject of freshman composition; whether familiarity with the traditional student population makes the academic world oblivious to cognitive differences and/or separate learning needs among adult students; and whether the current pedagogy is responsive to the needs of adult…

A pilot project determined whether a proposed essay addition to the new General Educational Development (GED) test batteries, scheduled for release in 1988, could be successfully administered and scored in local test centers with an acceptable degree of test reliability and validity. Conducted in cooperation with the GED Testing Service, the…

A case study investigated how writers use information from reading for writing. Specifically, it examined what happens when writers are asked to read about an unfamiliar topic and then use that information to write an argument. A student was requested to complete four tasks that represented stages one might go through to write an argumentative…