Urges basic writing instructors to teach prewriting and rewriting as seriously as they teach writing. Decribes the implementation of this approach which forces students to proceed through all three stages of writing in a structured classroom setting for each composition assignment. Provides an example showing a students' writing improvement. (AYC)

Describes a writing exercise that requires students to solve a murder mystery and persuade their readers that their solution is the correct one. (FL)

Notes that an assignment to write a technical book review for a journal informs business students about a technical subject, teaches criticism and judgment, and tests their knowledge and writing skills. Describes the steps followed by students in completing such an assignment. (TJ)

Suggests several ways to prevent intentional and unintentional plagiarizing by students writing research papers. Suggestions include: limiting topic choice, requiring formal research proposals including bibliography, requiring recent periodical references, and asking for an informative abstract of the paper to be written in class the day the…

Establishes a coherent and teachable sequence covering some of the practical principles, progressions, and patterns that fluent writers use in arranging their material. (FL)

Offers seven guidelines to follow when submitting student work for publication. Lists and discusses magazines for children. (RL)

To increase student competence in writing and other basic skills in undergraduate psychology courses, several psychology instructors devised a approach for integrating writing into existing psychology courses. Suggested writing activities include asking students to write down their ideas during class discussion and write summaries of readings and…

Outlines the basic decisions the English as a Second Language teacher should make in planning the extended writing lesson. Decisions regarding objectives, teacher input, oral build-up procedures, types of writing exercises, correction, and marking are discussed. (PJM)

Presents guidelines for planning, developing, and revising a high school writing laboratory program. (RL)

Offers four evaluative questions for revising writing assignments into vehicles that steadily move students toward writing fluency. (RL)

Highlights the disparities between what is taught to English graduate students and what they actually need to know to teach writing effectively. Makes suggestions to graduate instructors to better prepare graduate students for practical teaching. (HTH)

Paragraphs from students' writings are cited to exemplify specific benefits students derive from the opportunity to write without fear of grades or criticism. (HTH)

Offers successful teaching techniques from the English as a Second Language classroom that should be useful in remedial writing instruction. Emphasizes building student self-esteem and leading the student through drills and composition exercises at an individualized pace. (RL)

Indicates that ambiguity, one of the major faults of technical prose, occurs in at least six ways: ambiguity by implication, ambiguous word order, ambiguous words, dangling participles, improper or missing punctuation, and faulty pronoun reference. Suggests cures for each and provides examples for students to discuss and correct. (TJ)

Describes a technical writing class assignment in which students describe scholarly journals in their own major fields. Tells how the assignment defines the audience for the reports, Poses descriptive questions, provides a set of general directions, and defines the form for the reports; explains the objectives of the assignment. (TJ)