Asserts that the most important part of the research process occurs before formal research writing begins, when students engage in expressive, genuine communication. Describes several activities that promote meaningful responses to literature as a prelude to researching an American literary work. (MM)

Describes the effects of two prewriting strategies for the generation and storage of ideas (external storage and heuristic) on freshman English students' compositions in honors and basic writing classes. Both honors and remedial students produced the best essays when writing under conditions closely approximating their usual prewriting behavior.…

Discusses ways to motivate children to become readers and writers, characteristics of good children's literature, using patterned books as models, and prewriting activities; provides an annotated bibliography of 26 patterned books to encourage the reading/writing connection. A subset of updated folk and fairy tales is included. (LRW)

This article looks at the use of art in developing students' prewriting ability. The activities, strategies, and objects used provide students with the background knowledge, motivation, vocabulary, structure, and fluency they need to compose and rehearse written pieces. The article describes research conducted on the effects of combining art with…

Developed to provide supplementary instructional strategies for reading teachers at the kindergarten level, this booklet presents the instructional module for completing patterns, a component of the Comprehensive Reading Program of the Chicago Public Schools. After an overview of the module, activities are suggested for the following areas:…

Investigating the differences between students' conventional responses to the identification of writing topics and their responses to matters of real concern (as revealed through the use of "lifewriting" processes in the classroom), an exploratory study surveyed 455 eleventh and twelfth grade students at three large urban high schools.…

Although handwriting should not be formally taught in the preschool years, teachers can help children develop visual motor integration and other related skills required for writing. The activities suggested in this manual, while neither new nor different, are presented in a simple step-by-step form designed to facilitate success. Exercises focus…

An exploratory study investigated how writers represent their task to themselves before beginning to write. Using data from verbal protocols, the initial plans of 12 writers (5 experts and 7 student writers) who were working on an expository writing task were examined. The protocols were coded for types of planning. Independent measures of the…

Many basic writers who possess minimal composition skills are able to articulate their thoughts but are unable to express these thoughts on paper. The talk-write method of writing rehearsal is an approach that allows these students to experience prewriting and composition processes in an enjoyable way. In the talk-write technique, the student…

Discusses the heuristic role of yes-no questions in college composition and provides two such methods for brainstorming and focusing. Presents a binary graph device ("Matrix") that correlates subjects and concerns to generate yes-no questions. Also presents a flow-chart model structuring information in the question-evidence-resolution pattern. (JG)

This study investigated the effect of class discussion, one-to-one interaction, or no prewriting activity on the voluntary writing decisions of fourth graders. No differences were found for boys; however, the proportion of control group girls who chose to write was significantly higher than those in the class discussion group. (Author/MT)

The use of foreign language classroom conversation as a prewriting exercise, to help students discover composition topics, discuss the pros and cons, shape the narrative or thesis, and gather detail in a coherent way, launches the composition process and makes the homework of writing and proofreading more interesting and initially less difficult.…

In two experiments, college students wrote preliminary and final drafts of a persuasive document. Elimination of sentence-formation and sequence operations produced corresponding increments in persuasive argument production, with average-ability writers benefiting more than low-ability writers. Comparatively few new arguments were constructed…

Discusses four stages through which writers pass during prewriting. Offers ways of helping students pass through these stages so that they can begin to organize their writing more effectively. (RL)