Many students conceive of learning institutions as factories and of writing as the delivery of a predictable product. An excerpt from a typical student theme reflects the fact that much student writing is hardly more than an assemblage of cliches. Teachers can show students the stereotyped nature of typical student writing by constructing a composite paper of sentences from a number of student papers; by contrasting commonplace papers with those that show a thoughtful, individual response to an assignment; and by having the class construct a predictable group theme on a given topic. Students may also be directed to works that point to the dangers of stereotyped thinking and may examine their own earlier papers for evidence of such thinking. After such activities, students are in a position to change their conceptions of writing--to see that writing can be a learning process and a way to generate thought and discover connections. Excerpts from a paper written late in the term by the student whose earlier writings were predictable and stereotyped illustrate how writing can change when students learn to see writing as a personally meaningful learning activity. (GW)