An approach to evaluating student writing that emphasizes reformulation and deemphasizes grades teaches students that reworking their writing is a necessary and acceptable part of the writing process. Reformulation is divided into rewriting, revising, and editing. The instructor diagnoses student papers to determine significant problems on a priority basis (suggested by C. Koch and J. Brazil) instead of marking every writing error. All students write 14 to 15 essays of about 500 words per semester and have the option of selecting how many and which essays they will reformulate. Grades are assigned on the basis of a completed number of acceptable essays, with established criteria to determine acceptability in a modified contract system. In-class peer critique sessions, workshops, and individual conferences with the instructor are available during the semester. The following benefits result from the program: (1) the concept of writing as a drafting process is reinforced, (2) the separation between writing as a process and implications of grading writing as a product is increased, (3) students focus their attention on one problem at a time, and (4) students see what the writing process involves as being an asset rather than a liability and how writing can be less threatening and more meaningful. (AEA)