Paraphrasing is considered by many to be an important skill for academic writing, and some have argued that the teaching of paraphrasing might help students avoid copying from source texts. Few studies, however, have investigated the ways in which both L1 and L2 academic writers already use paraphrasing as a textual borrowing strategy when…

An action research project set out to increase students' writing fluency and investigate whether writing fluency varies as a function of writing prompts and directions given to students. Subjects were 62 students in a first-grade class, a second-grade class, and a fifth/sixth-grade Special Day class (all in this class are learning disabled) in a…

Popcorn story frames from a multicultural perspective are holistic outlines that in the reading/writing process facilitate comprehension for all cultures learning to read and write stories. Popcorn story frames are structured and modeled in a horizontal fashion just like popcorn pops in a horizontal fashion. The frames are designed for learners…

Writing needs to be given adequate emphasis in the area of social studies. Teachers should attempt to be creative and to assign different kinds of writing in their classes. This paper discusses possible activities for students in a unit on the Middle East to illustrate diverse purposes in writing. An initial assignment could be to ask students to…

This document provides a rationale (theory) and some models (application) to help secondary teachers develop their own "guided assignments"--road maps which offer young readers structured assistance in reading literature. The guide's first section provides a theoretical framework and blueprint for guided assignments. It begins by…

In the many different stages of the writing process, teachers of composition need to be sensitive toward cultural differences which may exist between them and their students. Large numbers of foreign students participate in writing courses in American colleges, and research indicates that the minority student population will increase sharply in…

Mathematics faculty around the United States are using writing assignments in a variety of ways. A mathematics teacher at Alma College, Michigan, has students write mathematical autobiographies, keep a reading logbook, and write letters to other students about the course, letters to instructors about the topics, or about what they do not…

A representative selection for studying African American autobiography as a literary discipline is "A Voice from the South by a Black Woman of the South" by Anna Julia Cooper, published in 1892. As a literary form, the book is a series of eight essays: four essays about women and their relation to other groups or their place in the…

One of the challenges of a communication instructor is how to initiate the discussion of ethics in the university classroom. The classic film, "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," has proved a useful tool for initiating discussion of ethical decision-making in leadership. This film presents a young and idealistic leader of boy ranger clubs…

The traditional basic writing model (giving students manageable writing tasks like narratives and descriptions of familiar places) has been criticized by both Mike Rose and David Bartholomae, among others, for not moving the basic writer far enough toward the goal of academic writing competence. Rose's schemata are reassuring and helpful to basic…

For a growing student demographic, college is not an intellectual or residential destination; rather, it is an intellectual errand. Students are, in the most existential sense, "already gone." For commuter students, academia is "unsituated." That is, they experience academia as moments scattered throughout a day or week. In…

Integrating the use of a social studies text, trade books, and writing can be a daunting task for teachers in grades 5-7. A sample lesson used with senior level preservice teachers enrolled in a content area reading course is the focus of this paper. Suggestions for duplicating the lesson in a middle school setting are included. The lesson…

Writing classes ought to be among the most creative environments imaginable, but sadly, some writing teachers seem to think that their own writing ability, in proximity, is enough to get students started. A good writing teacher must be a constant student of creativity, always searching for new ways to teach, new inspirations, new forms of…

To allow student writing to reach a broader audience, in 1999 political science educators and students at California State University Chico (CSUC) began a student journal in which exemplary student writing on political themes could be published. The resulting journal, "Studium: The California State University, Chico Student Journal of…

For both reading and writing, context and perspective are everything; Ann Berthoff suggests that students "write continuously in a double-entry notebook." One instructor has utilized Berthoff's double-entry notebook in a technical writing class and finds that this classroom practice has also been informed by other theories inquiring into…