The author urges writers not to forget that, while "plain English" is an important trend for business writing, not all business writing is dispassionate communication. He cites advertising as an example, stating that while advertising must be comprehensible, it should not be "plain." (CH)

Claims that writing theorist James Britton is unsuccessful at linking (and restricting) writing in the "spectator role" to the forming of "verbal objects." Argues for a broader view of the spectator role. (MS)

Compares the steps in the writing process to the stages of having a baby. (RL)

A personalized account of dealing with "writer's block." (RL)

Suggests that the writer does not analyze his or her audience but invents it. (FL)

The universal appeal of the printed medium emanates from the fulfillment of immediate personal needs. The primary objective of this article is to outline the needs of authors and readers that are satisfied by the printed medium. (Author)

Illustrates how the tagmemic theories of Richard Young, Alton Becker, and Kenneth Pike can be used as a heuristic system in writing entire compositions. (DD)

Argues that heuristics may be empirical and intuitive as well as rational, and presents the advantages of intuitive heuristics such as freewriting in the invention stage of the writing process. (DD)

With a sequential curriculum involving grades 1-12, well trained teachers who themselves write, and an ongoing in-service program incorporating composition, the public schools can exhibit a real commitment to the writing component.

Suggests some of the basic premises that underlie the field of composition's conception of social construction. Critiques those premises from the perspectives of theorists in related disciplines that are investigating the relationship of discourse to knowledge. (RS)

Inquires as to why high modernity's construction of knowledge made Plato's version of philosophy look absurd. Asks how writing teachers have helped to perpetuate the state of affairs. Suggests that something like Socratic philosophy has once again found a place in the writer's world--as a whole and in the classroom. (PRA)

Argues that postmodern theories of writing have enlivened and enriched appreciation of the nature and process of writing and of the complex cultural mediations of texts themselves, particularly canonical ones. Maintains that postmodern theory contains powerful contradictions on many levels, and its uses for an emancipatory cultural politics are…

Argues that arrangement (the second canon of rhetoric) can be productively rethought as the canon that both implies and produces the relationship between discourse and space. Suggests that electronic writing (hypertext) can make important contributions to a discussion of arrangement and that arrangement must be an active consideration in…

School writing is often very different and disconnected from the writing done for the world outside school. This disconnection has led to the development of a separate set of rules for writing that operates only in school, or among those for whom school writing is treated as real writing.

Sometimes one meet a person and instantly know that he or she share a connection. Such is the case with the incredibly talented author, Kathi Appelt. Kathi's work has won her critical acclaim and many readers. Her exuberant love of language and her dedication to the craft and art of writing shine forth in her books and in her words. In this…