Studies the writing processes of noncomposition students, particularly the patterns of feedback and revision in four writing-across-the-curriculum courses. Analyzes the first and final drafts of 20 students. Highlights several issues for further research. (HB)

Notes that creating focus which leads to formulating a thesis is a task with which many writers have trouble. Describes a process model of conceptual development that helps students gain confidence in abstracting, conceptualizing, and formulating a thesis. (NH)

Reviews videotapes of three professional writers composing several essays from start to finish, both by hand and by computer. Discusses similarities and differences among the completed essays. Finds that writing appears to be governed by deep cognitive models that are little influenced by the mode of text production or by the writer's preference…

Follows six non-native-speaker college students through an authentic essay-writing task. Finds that note-taking behaviors facilitated learning from text, but that depth of processing and the students' self-positioning in the discourse community were more important than their were overt behaviors. Concludes that students' notes were useful as a…

Outlines several reasons why teachers who write become better teachers. Discusses 13 steps in the process of becoming a writer. (SR)

This article discusses the use of a writing assessment rubric to structure writing instruction with examples from two classes of children who are deaf. It considers strategy modifications, using rubrics for instruction, and creating and using rubrics. Tables provide detail for a universal-type rubric, a modified universal-type rubric, a writing…

Argues that student self-assessment and reflection need to be central components of writing instruction and that the response sequence between teacher and student should routinely include them. Offers examples of this sequence with two students, and presents nine specific classroom strategies that put self-assessment and reflection at the center…

Semantic mapping was used to help English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) learners at a vocational trade school overcome their writing anxiety and generate ideas on paper. Semantic maps serve as a prewriting framework for brainstorming and organizing ideas. Semantic mapping can be used in many creative ways to help ESL students develop their writing…

Summarizes research for teaching writing to students with learning problems. Develops, from the literature review, a checklist of instructional features and uses of the checklist to examine two fifth-grade basal textbooks. Concludes by recommending modifications: add modeling to the instruction, make parts of the instruction more explicitly…

Presents analysis of 13 studies designed to teach students with learning disabilities to write better expository or narrative text. Notes the success of these interventions, and details three components for any comprehensive instructional program: instruction in writing process, critical dimensions of different writing genres, and structures for…

Presents an interview with Jack Gantos, author of many award-winning books for children and young people. Talks about the sources of his stories, his early family life, and becoming a writer. (SR)

Suggests that, in order to re-invigorate writing in schools, educators need to remind themselves of the importance of the tools of the writing process to help them explore the distinct and multiple voices and texts. Presents samples of some of the "local literacies" that students in a migrant summer school camp produced in their writing. (SG)

Examines the functions of outlining for 122 students in 4 undergraduate classes, each in a different discipline. Finds that outlining functions varied widely according to the assignment and the teacher's guidance. Identifies five functions of outlining. Suggests the benefits of examining a specific writing strategy rather than concentrating only…

Analyzes think-aloud protocols with native speakers of English learning French or German. Shows that as the writer's experience with the language increases, fluency increases, the average length of strings of words proposed between pauses or revision episodes increases, the number of revision episodes decreases, and more of the words proposed as…

Presents a sequenced writing assignment on shopping to aid basic writers. Describes a writing assignment focused around online and mail-order shopping. Notes steps in preparing for the assignment, the sequence, and discusses responses to the assignments. (SC)