Revision--the process of seeing what you've said to discover what you have to say--is the motivating force within most established writers. Since most writers need to revise over and over, teachers should not communicate revision to students as punishment. Many students are given only one opportunity to produce a writing project, but students…

Students who are not writing, or not writing well, may have a second chance to do so if they are able to receive the counsel of published writers to write before writing. These students should be told of the importance of prewriting. Most writers need time to wait for ideas to formulate. In this preparatory stage, writers feel four pressures that…

Writing in the first person is not usually tolerated in academic writing under the illusion that the third person insures some kind of objectivity. But writing in the first person is honest, permitting the reader to know that what is being said is a matter of opinion. It is a direct way of speaking about what a writer sees or feels or thinks, and…

Pupils can learn to write more effectively if they go through the cycle of prewriting, writing, and rewriting practiced by the publishing author. The writing class should not be hampered through studying writing backward, from the process of reading, or through the restrictive efforts of a too-precise teacher. By becoming aware of his world and…