Describes a writing assignment for business writing courses in which the class investigates a problem that affects them not as students but as members of a larger community. The assignment is a feasibility study for developing Athens, Ohio, as an arts and entertainment center. (HTH)

Presents eight writing assignments designed to help students write reports and letters for their future jobs. (HTH)

Views the writing act as an act of exploration rather than the reporting of what was discovered and emphasizes six elements that achieve the surprise in writing, including expectation, ease, and acceptance. (DF)

Math and science instruction now often includes more brief, informal writing exercises, sometimes completed in class, as a means of helping college students think more clearly. While writing skills are not emphasized, student writing often improves as a by-product. (MSE)

Presents an assignment in which students are instructed to produce a complete, accurate, and readable collection of rules and sentences that illustrates the multiple uses of each mark of punctuation, in other words, to write their own workbooks. (EL)

Presents an exercise that guides basic writing students in their choices, requiring them to make evaluative annotations of each sentence in the draft of a paragraph. Includes (1) a set of questions that incorporate criteria for a sound paragraph and serve heuristically for the revision of the draft, and (2) a student example of the procedure. (HTH)

Describes a "hands-on" thinking and writing activity, in which the class takes a walk and writes responses to nature as a whole and to one small aspect of nature. Includes class discussion assignments. (HTH)

Introduces Sustained Spontaneous Writing (SSW), a strategy which encourages young writers by providing a classroom environment that fosters writing habits and by having teachers model writing behaviors expected from students. Presents background information and practical suggestions for implementing SSW and ensuring its success in the daily…

Stresses the importance of having teachers of writing participate in writing activities at inservice meetings. (DF)

Two common strategies for assessing writing techniques and objective techniques are compared in a study of third-grade students. Student performance on selected response and constructed response test items, measuring the identification and construction of complete sentences, is compared. Results suggest that selected response items may lack…

Describes how to increase student motivation and awareness of audience by assigning a formal report they design, research, and write while they are enrolled in the technical writing course. (CRH)

Proposes the concept of criteria formulation as an integral part of the report writing process. Suggests using the skills of analysis, synthesis, and valuing to produce readable, comprehensive, and accurate recommendation reports. (EL)

Contributors offer a writing activity that can help students sharpen their awareness of how authors structure stories, and a scale that can serve as a guide to content area teachers for textbook selection. (HOD)

Describes a freshman composition assignment for writing a resume and job application letter to teach purpose, audience consideration, and clear concise writing techniques. (HTH)

Notes that flowcharting can be used to help college developmental writing students to think through the logical steps involved in writing. (FL)