Alvina Treut Burrows, Kellogg W. Hunt, Richard Lloyd-Jones, and Charles Read comment on significant developments in writing during the 1970s, hopes for the 1980s, and important references dealing with teaching children to write. (DD)

Describes how a comparison chart may be used by children in grades three through six to record and organize information from several sources for student reports. (DD)

The technical writing exercise described here requires the student to write a technical manual. The assignment is the last project of a technical writing course and brings into focus the total course content. (BB)

A study of topic choices and inductive/deductive development methods among 1,000 Oakland University students taking writing placement tests revealed significant differences in male/female thinking patterns and ability to communicate effectively. (DD)

Describes the development of a student placement program for freshman composition. (MKM)

Describes a unit on rhetorical stance, or choosing a tone which is appropriate for the intended audience, which utilizes Randy Newman's song "Short People." (MKM)

The decline in students' writing skills is chronic rather than acute and is due to several factors: (1) little training is done in the teaching of writing; (2) little work in writing is done in the classroom due to class size; and (3) students often have no models to emulate. (MB)

Relates the declining literacy among college students to institutional factors and traditions in English departments which devalue undergraduate composition instruction. Available from: Harper's Magazine Company, Two Park Ave., New York, N.Y. 10016, Subscriptions; $8.97 per year. (AA)

Discusses the rationale for teaching composing, and the need for starting such instruction early and giving it the proper emphasis. Several activities for teaching composing at the typewriter are described. (SH)

Reviews recent ERIC documents which focus on the relationships between reading and writing and which suggest that the facilitating effects of one practice upon the other can be delineated through careful research. (HOD)

Offers advice on organizing informative, good news, direct request and persuasive messages and stresses how these patterns may be adapted for use with specific communication problems. (MH)

Relating technical information in lay language and good interviewing techniques help the student prepare news releases from technical papers and reports. (HOD)

Describes "Grammar in a Nutshell"--a visual-auditory-kinesthetic approach to traditional textbook grammar, usage, and mechanics concepts. Notes that the idea behind Nutshell is that as the students slowly mature in other writing skills they can also grow in their understanding of how to use, how to handle their language, not only correctly but…

Describes the development, implementation, and critique of a strategy to train biology students in writing scientific research papers and writing for a nontechnical audience. Enables students to see the connection between biology and rhetoric and the importance of developing capacities for generating translations and synthesis of their technical…

Presents an activity that teaches students about the properties of light by using a real-life situation as the basis of a science writing exercise. (JRH)