A "naturalistic" study of eight college students enrolled in a freshman writing class was conducted to determine what variables are critical to the learning process. After observing and tape recording four individual conferences with each of the students, the recorded transcripts were analyzed to determine the one or two main concerns that students expressed about their writing. The nature of the concerns, as well as the needs of the students, changed from the first to the last conferences. Teachers need to be aware of how much influence they have on students' verbalizing their concerns about their writing and how much these concerns govern what the students do when they compose and the decisions they make while writing, both about how to proceed and how to revise. (AEA)