To describe systematically the revision strategies of basic and competent writers, eight twelfth grade students were asked to write for two different audiences--their teachers and their peers. Each subject met with the investigator for five sessions of one hour each. The first session was devoted to providing the subjects with training in a…

It is possible to use writing assignments in college psychology courses as a means of teaching subject matter and writing without substantially increasing instructor workload. There are two sets of strategies for dealing with the problem of limited time and energy, one pertaining to the writing assignment itself, the other to evaluating such…

To explore the concept of lexical collocation, or relationships between words, a study was conducted based on three assumptions: (1) that a text structure for a unit of discourse was analogous to that existing at the level of the sentence, (2) that such a text form could be discovered if a large enough sample of generically similar texts was…

Designed as a criterion-referenced scale to describe levels of writing skill development for basic essay elements, this instrument provides separate six-point rating scales for general competence of a narrative essay and the levels of development of focus and organization, support, and grammar/mechanics. The mechanics scale includes a brief guide…

Designed as a criterion-referenced scale to describe levels of writing skill development for basic essay elements, this instrument provides separate six-point rating scales for general impression of the quality of an essay, general competence, coherence, paragraph organization, support for main ideas, and mechanics. Validity, reliability and…

Tests were given to a nine-year-old boy to establish the constraints operating when he was writing poetry. The tests involved writing cloze tests on poems by poet Ted Hughes and on a poem the boy had written a year earlier. The boy was also asked to write a poem and then to discuss what he was thinking as he wrote. The following constraints were…

Developed as part of a program designed to examine why so few graduates of doctoral programs demonstrate their scholarship through the media of books and refereed publications, the four papers in this series address the question of publication. The first paper explains why one should publish, explores differences between graduate term papers and…

An evaluation model for essay assignments is provided. (DE)

Analyzes science textbooks and their writing assignments. Suggests that teachers introduce students to different writing styles and demonstrate diagramming (explained in the article) or some other method for organizing materials. (LS)

Describes a course required for Mayo Medical School students that includes a self-instructional test on 15 common writing faults, a minithesis, and a clinical laboratory research project prepared as a paper submissible to a scientific journal and critiqued by professional editors. (JT)

Interviews with supervisors and employees in 15 businesses in Rochester, New York, that utilize the word processing concept and/or automated typewriters concluded that more emphasis on composition and grammar skills as well as automatic typewriter instruction were needed to prepare business students for the world of work. (MW)

In the various stages of learning to read and write, certain prerequisite skills are essential for further growth to occur. The article describes these and elaborates on the characteristics unique to the disadvantaged adult that must be kept in mind if a successful communications program is to be developed. (Author)

English departments need to develop an honest diversity of writing programs, identifying the unique values of different approaches. (JH)

Organization of a class as a "publishing house" motivated more writing. (JH)