With rare exceptions, the assignment of a research paper elicits groans from students and sighs from their teachers, or worse. While the research paper became a fixture in composition textbooks and classrooms by the 1940s, its origins can be traced to fundamental changes in the American academy after the Civil War. The language of the term paper…

A first-year English composition instructor at Del Mar College, Texas, incorporates technology into the English curriculum by using a computer and a panel overhead projector, which allow for class collaboration in the production of a work. A student volunteer does the typing while the class engages in discussions about topics for a process paper,…

Writing in Western culture requires mastery of both rhetorical theory and the expressive writing often promoted in composition studies, however great the conflict between them might be. The tension between these two poles can even be a source of excitement and motivation. Landmark composition studies such as those of James Britton and Janet Emig…

A study examined the effects of gender-linked features of writing upon raters' judgments about writing quality. Sixty-four subjects were interviewed: 32 teachers and 32 freshman composition students. Subjects were asked to evaluate two essays, one written by a woman and one by a man. In interviews, the subjects were asked to: (1) offer suggestions…

Students work most productively when they feel free to move back and forth from ignoring audience to addressing it. Students should consider audience as they begin a writing task. Then they should get away from it all and simply write. If they find an audience inhibiting, they should feel free to ignore the idea of audience altogether or alter…

To come closer to the full "face to face" expression of writing consistent with the intention of the holistic movement, a study investigated the writing attitudes of first year writing students. Subjects, 70 students in the developmental writing group, 77 in the middle ability group, and 68 in the advanced writing group enrolled in…

Topic knowledge, discourse knowledge, and contextual awareness are now considered crucial for "good writing" by many writing researchers. It is time for writing instructors to stop conducting composition classes as though substantive knowledge is a far lesser issue than "rhetorical skill." Composition teachers can offer…

A process-oriented freshman composition instructor who stresses invention, drafting, and revision can simultaneously integrate a form of grammatical instruction. Various methods and strategies, both from experience and research on grammar from the classical to the contemporary era, suggest such a creative integration. First, the teaching of…

In a freshman English class that aims at improving the students' general writing ability, reading activities and materials should be used only to the extent that they directly contribute to writing development. The following criteria can be used to select and evaluate reading materials for a writing class: (1) stimulating quality; (2) relevance;…

Intended for college students, this book of readings, exercises, and advice focuses on issues of special relevance to college students and the general tasks of writing in college. The book is divided into eight sections, each of which contains a "classic" essay, a student essay, and a how-to essay, as well as 8 to 10 other essays on the…

A mistake is made when writing is taught as though what students learn in one discipline (usually English) can simply be carried forward unchanged to any number of different writing situations and tasks, and when linear metaphors are used to describe the processes of learning such a "basic skill" as writing. The slogan of every writing…

A study analyzed how freshman composition students handled an assignment that forced them to perform an act of sophisticated literacy which was a variation between spontaneity (present) and repetition (past) with a focus on how novice writers borrow language, whether through quotation or misquotation. The assignment involved two masterpieces of…

A study was conducted at Shoreline Community College (SCC) to determine the differences in the personal characteristics and attitudes of students who excel in freshman composition courses and those who fail. Telephone interviews were conducted with 25 students who obtained a B+ or higher and 25 students who received an F in freshman composition…

This book explores the implications and consequences, both theoretically and practically, of four propositions: (1) discourse is produced in context; (2) discourse is primarily a reaction to a precedent action; (3) social interactions in which language is used to construct reality are performed in a variety of roles; and (4) the features of…

The theories of cognitive development put forth by William Perry and by Jean Piaget are helpful in understanding the writing choices students made in responding to an assignment involving writing a persuasive essay. Some students were looking for the "Right Answer" and when they found it, they assumed that everyone would agree with them.…