Basic writing teachers can make use of the Learning Cycle teaching technique to design exploration and invention activities with which their students can practice analytical writing. The Learning Cycle approach is based on Piagetian theory and involves a three-phase process of exploration, invention, and discovery. In the exploration phase students receive opportunities for recalling and sharing concrete experiences that are coordinated with learning materials. In the invention phase a new concept is introduced as a way of ordering the experiences, thereby serving to restructure both the experiences and the concepts. Finally, in the discovery phase of the cycle, further activities based on the new concept are planned so that students reinforce and enlarge upon what they learned during the invention phase. (Examples are offered to illustrate how Learning Cycles have been applied to basic writing instruction.) (RL)