Most children's books are filled with pictures, yet when schools design curricula to teach writing, they often ignore the role of visual images in the writing process. Historically, methods for teaching writing have focused on text. Even relatively recent techniques like brainstorming and story webbing still focus on verbal information. In some cases, however, visuals have been used as a story stimulus to generate writing ideas or evoke emotional expression. This paper describes a study which sought to measure the effects of the introduction of computer clip art and graphical presentation software on the writing process. In particular, researchers wondered if the use of these visuals would affect length and quality of compositions, student motivation and esteem, student ability to organize thoughts into paragraphs, and student reaction to sharing compositions. The study examined 25 second-graders engaged in a daily writer's workshop that included brainstorming, story webbing, drafting, editing, publishing, and presenting. Data was collected via observation, a final group debriefing, interviews with both teachers and students, and analysis of the final creative papers themselves. Children used clip art as icons as aids for mapping sequences and chronologies, and as trial-and-error aids in story planning. Many students had difficulty applying themselves to the writing process once they learned that a computer would assist them at the editing stage, but the computer's presence also lent fun to preparing the final draft, which can become mundane or frustrating. Graphical presentation software also took some of the anxiety out of sharing papers with the whole class; attention was drawn away from the child to the onscreen graphics. There was ample evidence to support the conclusion that these computer applications enhanced length and quality of compositions; increased student self-esteem; enhanced, helped students organize their thoughts via storyboarding; and got good overall reaction from the students. (BEW)