This paper describes a collaborative technique for teaching technical writing, a technique that is designed to give students experience with a type of writing done rarely in the classroom but employed frequently in the work world. Students, divided into two groups, work together in composing a proposal for an extensive research project or a more…

This guide is intended to improve the writing and composition skills of oceanography students but it may be applied to other written scientific compositions. Discussed is the documenting of laboratory and field investigations during the activity. A suggested format for the research report is presented with discussions of each section. A segment is…

When composition teachers use their own essays as models for students' writing, they provide a process for students to learn and a product for their imitation. The models can be both readable and related to the mode currently being studied while also being vehicles for making the teacher more "vulnerable" to the students. The process described by…

Teaching college freshman composition students how to write a research paper can be used as a way of emphasizing reading and comprehension skills as well as helping them learn to test the conclusions of other research. Research work should require more than an introduction to the Dewey Decimal System and the tools of the research room, it should…

This is one in a series of eight discussion pamphlets produced by the Writing Across the Curriculum Project dealing with some of the issues connected with writing in the schools and their relation to learning. The seven papers in this pamphlet were drawn from a seminar involving a small number of science teachers and cover a variety of topics,…

Too often college composition students see language as an end in itself, rather than as a means to realization of self and world, and teachers need to establish a classroom environment that stimulates and demands that students use their language to find out about themselves. Techniques helpful in shaping composition classes toward this end…

Those who argue for the inclusion of literature in composition courses point out that English teachers must teach from their area of expertise and that the use of literature endorses creative and imaginative use of language, avoids what is merely utilitarian and boring, and promotes growth in thinking. Those who oppose the use of literature in…

ONE OF THE USES FOR POETRY IN THE CLASSROOM IS THAT OF STUDYING THE WAY A POET EMPLOYS FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE AND THE CONCRETE, SENSUAL IMAGE TO BRING INTO SHARP FOCUS, OR SUGGEST BY CONNOTATION, THE DEFINITION OF A SINGLE WORD. THIS, IN TURN, CAN LEAD TO STUDENT EXERCISES IN DEFINING WORDS IN CONCRETE SENSUAL LANGUAGE. BY TAKING A POEM WHICH SEEMS…

A PROJECT WHOSE AIM WAS TO DEVELOP BOOK-REPORTING PROCEDURES WHICH WOULD EFFECTIVELY STIMULATE AND ENCOURAGE WIDE INDEPENDENT READING AND THE MASTERY OF APPROPRIATE BOOK-REPORTING SKILLS IS SUMMARIZED AND EVALUATED. A SUMMARY OF THE FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS OF A SURVEY OF CURRENT BOOK-REPORTING PRACTICES IN GRADES 2-7, CONDUCTED THROUGH PERSONAL…

After a brief discussion of the deficiencies of both prescriptive and descriptive rhetoric, the author presents a generative rhetoric as a workable technique for teaching composition. An outline is given of a generative "macro-rhetoric" which deals with the large task of how to organize and develop a statement or idea. Types of sentences, four…

For 25 years Iowa State University has required undergraduate seniors and first-year graduate students to pass a qualifying examination in English consisting of a theme on an assigned topic. A student may repeat the examination till he passes, and he may meanwhile receive extra instruction from the writing clinic. Despite a rejection of one fifth…

A survey of attitudes of students in the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College (CGSC) toward writing was analyzed in terms of total population and in terms of ability subgroups established by a diagnostic examination of writing ability. Results were compared with results from a similar survey of the 1974-1975 CGSC class, which was analyzed…

This paper explores the process of writing from several perspectives, as a first step toward a more comprehensive theory. The first perspective sees writing as a communicative act. The observation that to write is to communicate, though commonplace, has major and sometimes surprising implications for a theory of writing. It forces a focus on the…

Students of writing can learn the principles of writing for an audience through giving speeches and lectures. This paper offers pointers to guide students in organizing and delivering oral presentations. When organizing an oral presentation, students are urged to make it short, to make the organization obvious, to make the ideas simple and vivid,…

This paper describes a developmental course in writing skills designed for college freshmen and offers guidelines for gaining acceptance of the course in the college community. The course consists of six credits of work earned in two semesters. Each week, students are required to attend three class periods, one writing laboratory session, and one…