While comics have received widespread acceptance as a literary genre, instructors and scholars in Rhetoric and Composition have been slower to adopt comics, largely because of a lingering difficulty understanding how the characteristics of the form relate to our work in the classroom. Using as guides the "WPA Outcomes Statement for First-Year…

What lasting impact could a required general education writing course have on students' well-being? The authors examined this question in the context of the California State University- Chico Town Hall Meeting, a campus event sponsored jointly by the Academic Writing Program and the First-Year Experience Program from 2006 to 2009. In the Town…

In this article, the authors examine the role revision memos played in composition classrooms. Both authors used the memos to help students reflect on their writing and continue revising. The memos also served as guides for the instructors as they responded to their students' writing. The memos were a reminder that the instructors needed to focus…

Writing in Western culture requires mastery of both rhetorical theory and the expressive writing often promoted in composition studies, however great the conflict between them might be. The tension between these two poles can even be a source of excitement and motivation. Landmark composition studies such as those of James Britton and Janet Emig…

Anecdotal testimony indicates that grade deflation is encouraged in many colleges and universities, especially in freshman writing courses. As a result, grading down has become a point of pride for some writing instructors. Instead of earning reputations as good, caring, committed teachers whose students do well because the teachers have worked…

It does not take a computer expert to teach students how to use word processing software to prewrite, write, revise, and edit a professional-looking paper. Just a small amount of expertise allows students to work independently as long as they have access to a computer and the necessary software. The computer also facilitates interactive learning…

Students entering the university have to create a space for themselves, not only in the writing classroom, but in their relationships with faculty, other students, and their evolving selves. A curricular support mechanism helps students enlarge their educational process. Such a support system, the Linked Courses Program, has been in operation at…

Using reflective writing throughout the composition course yields better reflective writing for composition portfolios. As writing courses make increasing use of portfolios for individual and program assessment, reflective writing will become more and more important. Brief reflective statements of as little as one paragraph, even when done as a…

A study investigated the effectiveness of full dyadic writing as a technique for teaching writing to students of English as a Second Language (ESL). Subjects were 31 college students of diverse cultural backgrounds enrolled in ESL sections of freshman English. Each chose a partner with a different native language with whom to write two essays, the…