Advanced composition is difficult to define because of the complexities implied by each of the two terms, "advanced" and "composition." The word "advanced" is loaded with positive connotations that generally suggest progress. However, the progress expected of a class of students at one institution may not agree with the progress expected at another, suggesting that "standards" vary from instructor to instructor. Perhaps one approach to the problem of "standards" is to distinguish between local and transferable writing skills. Local skills, such as editing skills that the advanced composition students would have already learned, can be taught directly. Transferable skills are acquired rather than learned and include syntactic fluency, control of diction, sense of audience, organizational ability, and persuasiveness. Advanced composition students must already have acquired a relatively high degree of ability with all the transferable skills. Distinguishing between product (writing) and process (composition), advanced composition may be seen as different from advanced writing because composition relies on a self-critical, systematic, and disciplined study of the process by which advanced writing is produced. A more satisfying definition of advanced composition should concentrate on effective ways of teaching the local skills of writing and on workshop exercises that successfully integrate local and transferable skills. (HOD)