Discusses strategies (based on S. I. Hayakawa's abstraction ladder) to encourage connected thinking in student writing. Describes a recent cross-disciplinary workshop seeking to improve student essay writing and evaluation. (KEH)

Advocates that teachers of writing should write literary nonfiction (assuming that they teach nonfiction writing) and publish what they write. Maintains that, if more teachers wrote and published belletristic essays, the genre, teaching, and profession would be enlivened and enhanced. (SR)

Reports on a national survey examining the current institutional situation of "advanced composition" courses. Finds (1) doubt about the institutional future of such courses; (2) a wide variety of course content and points of focus; (3) theoretical divisions among teachers of such courses; and (4) positive perceptions of the relationship…

Uses an asynchronous computer network to conduct an experimental college writing class. Examines how paperless technology alters student-mentor relationships and encourages coaching and practice more than conventional classrooms. Analyzes how on-screen equality influences teacher and peer evaluations of student writing. Includes breakdown of time…

Illustrates the use of the writing wheel, a prewriting technique for writing from thesis statements that requires students to create a picture of a wheel. Shows how the wheel can be used in writing paragraphs and how it can be combined with summary writing to produce an integrated term paper. (DB)

Describes a college instructor's observations of her students' writing blocks. Suggests that female students' writing blocks differ from males'. Asserts that females' blocks last longer and cause greater distress than do males' writing blocks. Notes that female students also appear to experience difficulty in utilizing secondary sources and…

Argues that the writing program administrator's role of developing and maintaining a program that embodies and tests theoretical principles is a scholarly activity and should be recognized as such. Claims that the traditional disciplinary view restricting scholarship to written publication must be broadened. (RS)

Describes a theoretical model of the research and development process which allows students to develop research strategies based on their understanding of the generation of technical and scientific literature. Claims the model provides a conceptual framework of the structure of the literature students will be using in their professions. (MM)

Outlines an approach for moving staff, parents, and children toward an emergent literacy perspective. Discusses how to (1) lay the foundation for new policy directions; (2) assess the literacy environment; (3) plan for essential experiences; (4) attend to skill development and program objectives; and (5) reassess emergent literacy programs. (MM)

Looks at academic burnout from the perspective of the transplanted humanist teaching business communication. Describes disparities of fit between the quantitative methods of a business school and the qualitative approach of a humanist. (SR)

Describes how "The Children's Writing and Publishing Center" (a desktop publishing program for elementary students) combines word processing with computer graphics and motivates students to write letters. (MM)

The reading of English placement essays has become the high spots of the semester for faculty at Long Beach City College. A grant to evaluate an English placement test by the Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education is discussed from the viewpoint of the dean, a faculty member, and a consultant. (MLW)

Describes the author's experience of taking two creative writing courses. Stresses the values that are taught: self-investment; avoidance of premature closure; seeing revision as discovery; experimentation; and trusting your own creative power--all necessary for good writing, whether academic or creative. (RAE)

A five-step procedure is presented for using wordless picture books to encourage language development in hearing-impaired students. The students "read" the books, write the story ideas and illustrate the story, review the story for comprehension, and complete creative writing activities. A bibliography of picture books for elementary-level…

Reviewed are three computer software packages for use in middle/high school classrooms. Included are "MacWrite II," a word-processing program for MacIntosh computers; "Super Story Tree," a word-processing program for Apple and IBM computers; and "Math Blaster Mystery," for IBM, Apple, and Tandy computers. (CW)