The Cambridge (Ohio) City Schools have started an e-mail program that provides opportunities for correspondence and for developing social writing skills, while placing the responsibility for success and appropriate behavior on the students. Discusses successes, problems encountered, and future plans. (PEN)

Argues that it is a mistake to aim for equality of performance in English because boys and girls are literate in different ways and need to play to their greatest strengths while at the same time widening their repertoire. Suggests that teachers should guide boys away from replicating restricted narrative modes. (TB)

Outlines strategies that grant writers can use in putting together a successful proposal. These include matching the proposal's strengths to the funder's goals, researching the funder, establishing credibility, emphasizing the strengths of the institution and community, and timing the proposal. Also provides information on writing for small…

This second of a two-part series presents five strategies for writing effective grant proposals: make the proposal easy to read; follow the request for proposal guidelines; develop a project evaluation process; test the budget against the narrative; and thoroughly recheck the proposal. (SM)

Investigates how students in an upper-level sociology course wrote critiques and how their texts were evaluated by four professors in the discipline. Finds that students received higher scores if they found weaknesses in the source article, basing their judgments on disciplinary knowledge; and neither major nor educational level was a strong…

Describes a unit of study for a basic writing class that incorporates the writing of a dramatic monologue as a first step in learning to write a narrative essay. Discusses how one student's monologue changed as the unit progressed. (RS)

Presents results of a national study in which members of the Society for Technical Communication rated the relevance of 20 selected English-usage principles that were considered to be of limited importance in a previous study involving textbook editors and communication instructors. Shows that all 20 principles were rated as important to…

The authors examined inflectional and derivational morphological forms within narratives written by 247 3rd and 4th graders. Results indicate that children's control of morphological structures in their writing mirrors that in their speech: inflectional morphology is largely mastered by age 9 or 10, but skills with derivational morphology continue…

Addresses how prison inmates or juvenile delinquents have been consistently compared with norms obtained for either an adult population or same-age comparison groups with more favorable opportunities to develop reading and writing skills. Concludes that prison inmates in Sweden possess reading and writing skills that are comparable to those found…

States that universities and engineering firms do not generally train engineers in business technical writing, although firms benefit from having engineers who can write clear descriptions of their work. Suggests a program to promote writing skills of engineers and engineering students with limited English skills that involves clear, logical lists…

Outlines the series of decisions involved in selecting and then using sample papers in holistic evaluation. Attempts to make test-developers aware that they have choices to make and that their choices will have serious consequences for student and evaluator alike. (RS)

Suggests an approach to writing introductory paragraphs that is really a tool for revision. Describes how students can discover their own truths concerning why they are writing a particular essay. Notes that, once these truths are found, meaningful revision (and introductory paragraph writing) can occur. (RS)

Argues that significant improvement in high school students' spelling can result from direct diagnostic teaching that helps disabled spellers analyze and overcome their problems. Presents a cognitively based error-analysis protocol which has the promise for providing the insights needed to enhance the effectiveness of spelling instruction for…

Discusses a "write-back" strategy for use when there is insufficient class time for conferencing with peers or the teacher. Notes that the teacher agrees to respond to students' drafts within 24 hours. Discusses 3 options available to students: (1) write back/respond; (2) edit; and (3) writing back. (RS)

Argues that certain techniques of literary journalism should be taught to journalism students. Asserts that teachers of journalistic writing should focus on the following critical aspects of quality writing: narrative and scenes within the narrative; use of dialogue; incisive characterization; insightful interpretation; and flair, color, and…