Competent writers make certain decisions when engaged in discourse-level revising of their own written work. Discussion and description of those decisions illuminates and informs classroom procedures for developing such revising and reviewing skills. A reader feedback guide for use in small group work facilitates the process. (Contains 14…

This book of author-contributed chapters on academic writing grew out of workshops on scholarly writing taught at the University of South Florida. The chapters in part I review the working habits of successful academic authors. The chapters in part II analyze the genres of academic writing. Part III focuses on revision and editing of manuscripts.…

Teachers' role as primary audience has important implications for writing instruction. Teachers represent a combination of two audiences: a literal audience--a specific person or group of people implied in a writing assignment--and an ideal audience shaped by the writers themselves. As these two general types of audiences imply, writers both…

The process of getting a thought out of the mind and onto paper can be divided into five major categories: (1) discovering the word, (2) excavating the mythic word from the subconscious, (3) perceiving the word in the conscious, (4) verbalizing the expressed word, and (5) comprehending the unsaid word. When humans experience anything, their minds…

The synthesis of four instructional models for argumentative writing--the Toulmin, Hiduke, Winder, and Crebbe-Debate approaches--with basic discourse theory produces a practical and positive method of teaching college students to write effective persuasive essays. A battery of questions based on a modified communication triangle--subject…

On the premise that the kind of writing done in business and technical writing classes is a social act, the business and technical writing courses at Auburn University (Alabama) use peer interaction, revision, and audience awareness to help students become aware of and internalize the conventions of writing. Students are required to read each…

To determine whether basic writers revise more successfully using word processors as opposed to pen and paper, a study investigated the quality of revision of approximately 100 college basic writers in three classes at a southern university. In the fall semester, word processors were used in each of the three classes once every two weeks. In the…

A study examined whether the use of word processors would enhance the amount and quality of students' revisions. Subjects, 28 high school sophomores and juniors enrolled in a special class for interested writers, met twice a week for 60 minutes in either a computer laboratory (experimental group) or in a regular classroom (control group). Findings…

Drawn from a larger study involving 16 children and 7 classrooms at a New Hampshire elementary school, this book presents a case study of one child's growth in writing during third and fourth grade. The first section of the book describes the inception of the writing workshop in one classroom, including the partnership between the researcher…

In a 14-month collaborative effort between a beginning writer and a researcher, interviews, classroom observations, and experiences in writing and presenting papers provided a descriptive record of a writer's changing perception of writing. From seeing writing as a mysterious act performed for the teacher and only vaguely reflecting his own ideas…

To evaluate the impact of revision--as distinct from other writing enrichment activities such as peer or teacher feedback--on writing skills, two classes of college-bound high school seniors who voluntarily enrolled in a writing course, were given similar instruction in writing evaluation and skill development. While both classes were permitted to…

Contractual revision promotes cooperation between teachers and tutors and, being student initiated, provides a method to increase student control over the revision process and encourage students to communicate their strengths and weaknesses in writing to their teachers or tutors. The contractual revision process requires students to form contracts…

Discusses revision as a growth-through-change process occurring continuously through all stages of drafting. Describes several ways in which word processing facilitates invention, substitution, reordering, adding, cutting and other aspects of this kind of composing. Offers guidelines for using computers in the writing classroom. (JG)

Protocol analysis and a literature review were used to determine the ways novice and expert writers, from elementary to postsecondary levels, deal with the cognitive processes that constitute writing. They found that writing is goal-directed, writing goals are hierarchically organized, and writers accomplish their goals through planning, sentence…

Suggests techniques for the efficient use of one word processor among many students by dividing the writing process into stages of prewriting, writing, editing, and publishing. Examples of exercises and evaluations, a guide to producing a book, and a list of publications that accept children's writing are provided. (CLB)