Describes a series of miniature writing assignments for college students, including reflections on freedom, writing down ideas in a notebook, writing postcards or letters, a gathering page, and doing a first draft in 20 minutes. Provides examples of each assignment. (PA)

Explains how a teacher uses the acronym SOAR (Sentences Organized and Revised) as the core of a game designed to motivate a class to revise their work through the promise of popcorn, free time, or snacks for their revision work. Describes a worksheet that forces students to pay attention to various parts of their paper. (TB)

Explains how a teacher asks her students to write on topics close to their hearts and how she, in turn, writes her own heartfelt essays and shares them with her students. Contains one such essay, in which the author describes how she narrowly escaped serious injury when, as a teenager, she jumped on a moving vehicle. (TB)

Describes an approach to teaching the student research paper that improves the quality of arguments and prose. Reviews specific steps to writing and researching the research paper, which include free writing on a topic of interest, formulating a research question, interviewing and surveying, initial drafting of an argument, and (only after these…

Community college students (n=159) were taught writing using one of three treatments: modeling with scaffolds, scaffolds without modeling, and control group. Test scores, observations, and instructor interviews showed that think-aloud modeling increased writing skills; implementation of scaffolding was too idiosyncratic to compare; and integration…

Explains that in the study of law, postmodernism's interpretive turn has given rise to a wealth of scholarship analyzing the relationship of law's rhetoric to its social, cultural, and political contexts. Argues that legal writing professors must learn to grow beyond their narrow conception of rhetoric to help students become adept at the…

Shares several treasures that one writing teacher found by using the keyword "writing" to search on the Internet. Discusses games suggested by the "Atlantic Monthly" web site and tips on journal writing found on another web site. (TB)

Notes that business communication has a long history, stretching back to the origins of rhetoric as a scholarly endeavor and to the origins of business practice. Adds that today, business communication exists in the United States at university level, emphasizing writing instruction for undergraduates. States that it should continue in this vein,…

Explores Gertrude Buck's approach to argumentation demonstrating the intellectual and social significance of her work and showing how she introduced a democratic ethics encouraging Vassar women to take a more active and public role in society. Focuses on one of Buck's instruments of teaching writing, "A Course in Argumentative Writing"…

Determines whether the textbook "Elements of Writing" is an improvement over "Warriner's" which it replaces. Considers how in determining whether a textbook promotes the curriculum and daily activities that lead to a rich perspective of writing, teachers need to consider what it means for a textbook to focus on writing and what teachers mean by…

Discusses the writing of poetry in middle school content classrooms as a link between content area concepts and writing to learn. Describes several poem types, includes poetry samples, and discusses special concerns in implementing poetry writing. (JPB)

Explores the software behind the interface of the programs used in composition classrooms. Places the production of software in a cultural context. Compares hypertext, structured programming, and natural-language writing. Suggests that writing instructors think about ways to customize programs used in their composition classes and to understand…

Focuses on teaching HTML scripting and/or Web-page writing, as well as evaluating Web pages according to basic criteria. Maps a pedagogy for hypertext writing. Discusses issues of audience and purpose, design, contextualized hyperlinks, navigability, color schemes, and image, audio, and video integration. Notes that balancing between effective…

Analyzes two student group Hypertext projects and a MOO (multiuser domain, object-oriented) project. Finds the play element can enrich readerly experience through the creation of a dramatic experience of information. Suggests that composition instructors need to recognize the play element in computer-based composition and encourage the development…

Argues that children's literature is a great tool for teaching writing in the elementary grades. Offers a list of fine children's literature the authors use to teach specific writing and "writerly" skills. (SR)