Advocates teaching the paraphrase from the dramatistic perspective in order to teach students the "active," dramatic nature of meaning, and the different ways they can describe meanings. Illustrates how the paraphraser selects and combines elements, creating a complete context for the original text. (MM)

Provides annotated bibliographies of 98 journals which publish articles in composition, focusing on periodicals of interest to potential readers, subscribers, or submitters of manuscripts for publication. (MM)

Describes the writing problems of "real world" professional users of word processing, which include editing instead of revising and rethinking, a reluctance to rewrite, and word-inflation. Suggests strategies for working with students to avoid these problems, focusing on functional writing used by professionals in various fields. (MM)

Suggests that editing courses serve a campus-wide need for fostering better student-writers, and that editing skills provide non-English majors workaday and executive-level writing habits for jobs in commerce, industry, and the professions. Asserts that English departments should also develop internship programs for student editors. (MM)

Presents an exercise for teachers which illustrates the limitations of workbook drills and rule study by teaching a brief hypothetical grammar text of five rules and exceptions, then employing those rules in standard drill exercises and a writing assignment. Claims that traditional pedagogies of formal grammar are not effective in improving…

Asserts that fiction writing techniques such as plot, characterization, and dialogue can be used to help remedial writers express their personal narrative. (MM)

Describes the process of developing an essay topic for large group scoring. Proposes guidelines for test development committees, and emphasizes the importance of accessibility and reader perspective in the formation of test questions. (MM)

Explores three current approaches to describing what happens to basic writers when they enter college. Seeks a more comprehensive approach that takes into account the differences in dialect, discourse conventions, and ways of thinking, through the notion of a language community, and W. Perry's developmental model. (HTH)

Describes the "Strategies for Writing" course for freshmen at Carnegie-Mellon University, which possesses the twin goals of stimulating students' enthusiasm and giving them quality instruction. Notes that this course has proved more effective than traditional composition or literature based writing courses, and discusses the reasons why.…

Describes efforts of the University of Michigan's English Composition Board to examine and make more uniform the process of evaluating entering student essays for purposes of placement. Examines some of the factors evaluators bring to bear when assessing student papers. (HTH)

Reports on a study in the development of content-fair essay topics that provide the majority of examinees with the chance to write on a subject about which they know a great deal, and that reduce opportunities for linguistic misinterpretation. (HTH)

Describes the rationale and procedure for using student writing portfolios in lieu of proficiency writing exams to determine student placement at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. (HTH)

Proposes that a systematic program of summary writing may be particularly effective tool for helping students overcome egocentrism by requiring them to focus objectively on someone else's ideas. Describes a program of summary assignments that foster dialectic thinking. (HTH)

Provides a rationale for and description of daily student journal writing, peer evaluation, and revision, which provide students with necessary writing practice without overloading the instructor. (HTH)

Proposes a model for helping students assess writing during teacher student writing conference. Includes a guided form for assessing audience and intentions. (HTH)