Teaching students copywriting gives them writing techniques that will help them boil a 100-word message down to 20 for a letter, write a memo that is memorable because of its clarity and word choice, or produce a report that offers findings in a readable, believable way. (HOD)

The nine-step grid strategy provides prompts in both structure and content areas to improve the narrative writing skills of students with learning disabilities. The steps include developing a story grid with characters, setting, action, emotion, and so on; planning and writing the story; and completing both cognitive and technical edits. (DB)

A major goal in teaching basic writers is to show them the importance of revision in the writing process, specifically revision for correctness (correcting), for creating content (adding), and for cutting out inessential material (subtracting). Revising for correctness includes varying or limiting the assigned revision tasks, varying the length of…

Describes a writing assignment designed to aid students' perception of audience, purpose, format, vocabulary, pertinent information, and peer editing. Establishes a framework for both independent student research and group work and revision. Encourages students to establish a rapport with groups to evaluate the writing's content, presentation,…

Describes an editing assignment in which senior engineering students use their knowledge of non-finite clauses (both restrictive and non-restrictive) to achieve concise mature writing. Explains the linguistic background provided to students before the assignment, gives details of the published "answer guide" and the exercise, and…

Rewriting activities are used by a teacher of the deaf to encourage children to express their ideas clearly, increase their vocabulary, work successfully as a group, and experiment with language. Each class rewrites a poem or short book once a week, does spontaneous oral rewrites, and rewrites each other's work. (VW)

Describes a writing assignment in which students must complete a page of coherent prose using only one word containing the letter "n." The exercise serves as a prelude to the concepts of revision and of passive and active vocabularies. (HTH)

Reviews two recent articles on computer use in the English classroom. Discusses ways that word processing programs for microcomputers can be used to teach revision. Identifies the equipment and software requirements for using the approach and discusses practical benefits. (DMM)

Explains how the use of parody can improve students' writing and add more zest, zing, and vigor to their writing style. (HOD)

Describes students' assumptions about the nature of literature and presents teaching strategies to counter these assumptions and engage students in creative and analytical writing appropriate to a range of literature courses. (MM)

Discusses the need for administrators to focus on how their students revise written work, considers the relationship of the revision process to learning, and speculates on why revision is not usually seen as a major part of student writing. (FL)

Describes the features of a process model of writing and efforts to translate the theory into practice. (JL)

This article discusses applications of the Cloze whole language technique for teaching reading to deaf students. Techniques described include using Cloze questions in shared reading, predicting language in written text, solving Cloze exercises with teamwork, working with minimal clues, predicting in patterns, and using Cloze techniques for…

Presents an instructive outline for writing a research paper for National History Day. Organizes the process into three steps: (1) select an interesting topic; (2) develop a strong thesis; and (3) write a well-constructed paper. Includes hints on organization, technical matters, editing, and readability. (DK)

A discussion of the need to teach revision as part of the writing process begins with an analysis of the revision process and presents results of experiments in teaching revision. Some specific classroom techniques for teaching error detection and revision are then outlined. (20 references) (Author/MSE)