Describes a protocol study of 10 professional writers which examined the meaning and influence of purpose on writers in the workplace. Explores the interactions of various purpose considerations derived from situation, reader, and text. Suggests that professional writers have a range of meanings in mind when they think about purpose. (MM)

Tests whether the effects of forewarning about a suspenseful film are dependent upon one's preferred way of coping with stressful events (assessed with the Miller Behavioral Style Scale). Discusses the individual difference variable in terms of behavioral dispositions located in the activation-arousal system. (SR)

Examines television rerun viewing motives and sociodemographic characteristics to predict frequent, occasional, and infrequent rerun viewing habits. Indicates that demographic and social variables are not major determinants, while motives are reliable predictors. (SR)

Examines narrative telling by children, and the transition in development from the capability of talking in the "here and now" to the capability of telling about the "there and then." Seemingly, very young children can produce narratives in an unscaffolded context to adults unfamiliar with these experiences. (23 references) (GLR)

Details writing problems technical students encounter when they fail to distinguish between model and example and between different kinds of models. Analyzes these problems with reference to inappropriate material in texts. Defines several writing models, and shows how understanding these models gives writers rhetorical flexibility while producing…

Evaluates the pattern of celebratory activities in United States homes that accompanied television viewing of the 1984 Summer Olympic Games. Finds that those watching the Olympics were more likely to be in a group, to have visitors, to plan their viewing, and to pay close attention to the television. (MS)

Describes how a short exercise in designing greeting cards for a "Teacher Appreciation Day" helps student identify and analyze the four components of rhetoric--purpose, content, persona, and audience. Includes samples of students' greeting card messages. (MM)

Provides a step-by-step guide to choosing the most appropriate layout for a school newspaper. States that although content is the most important factor, layout is also an integral factor in catching reader interest. Describes formats, the use of body type, headline treatments, and the use of art. Presents a 13-item bibliography with more sources…

Outlines storytelling approach, including sources, story selection, learning the story, stage presence and props, and presentation. Methods to incorporate stories into the classroom are listed for language, history and geography, science, art, music, and math. Includes eight additional resources for storytellers. (RE)

States that, to write a truly effective story, a writer must go beyond the basics and look for an "angle" or a hook. Defines an angle as having excellent lead focus and great interest potential, and makes a difference in the number of readers who will take interest. Defines "perspective" as used in journalism. (PA)

Defines the concept of "audience" as a theoretical concept for writing instructors and readers. Discusses its relationship to the teaching of English. (HB)

Examines college students' responses to the program "Cops" to better understand how viewers construct meaning and pleasure from the televisual texts of reality-based programming. Finds that humor guides the viewers' interpretations of the text and is a major source of pleasure, but the audience's search for the comic both deviates from…

Reviews and redefines a concept known as the "rhetorical situation" through an examination of the political discourse of China during the 19th-century Opium Wars. Arrives at three alterations to the "rhetorical situation" concerning the role of the audience, the role of the culture's discourse tradition, and the interactive and…

Finds enhanced recall of political television commercials from content domains of family and appearance in the case of women as opposed to men candidates, and enhanced recall from the domain of campaign activities in the case of men as opposed to women candidates. Finds that men's attack ads on women elicited greater emotional reaction than…

A study of 240 TV viewers who watched or listened to and watched news stories showed highly significant differences in their recorded perceptions of the information. The spoken narrative was responsible for the perception of violence in the stories. Discussion of the results also touches on the subject of verbal violence. (14 references) (CP)