Using the file approach in freshman composition gives students experience with the selection and utilization of a range of sources for writing, the awareness of writing as a learning activity that is by nature a process, and the opportunity to write and read across the curriculum. In this approach students are expected to keep a file of information, ideas, and possible topics for compositions collected from magazines, newspapers, or their own experiences. Students receive a peer evaluation sheet and worksheets designed for organizing file information. Students are encouraged to develop the file based on areas of vocational or avocational interest, since students' interest and achievement tend to improve if they perceive the class and assignments as being of individual importance. This focus also enables students to experience writing as a process of gaining knowledge about a topic. In addition, the conferences and peer evaluation components of the file approach allow students to learn how diverse people think and feel about a topic of importance to the writer, and about its development in an essay. Finally, the file approach reveals the process nature of writing. (Appendixes contain a worksheet for organizing file information, and a peer evaluation sheet.) (EL)