Presents the problem of intentional or unintentional plagiarism on the part of young students, several possible causes for it, and offers ways teachers can help students avoid copying and understand the value of owning one's writing. (JC)

Argues that the word "creativity" can inhibit students from writing because they feel what they write must be completely new and original. Offers suggestions for helping alleviate writing apprehension such as stream of consciousness writing or free writing. (SRT)

Describes the writing apprehension and difficulty encountered by a teacher participating in a writing institute. Includes a copy of her final essay and some reflections on what the experience and institute taught her. (HTH)

Argues that scholarly writing entails entering into a complex network of relationships and engages the writer in a process that may have a multitude of ends. Discusses how professional writing is related to the logic of market in that writers must produce an exchangeable commodity, but the process is governed by the requirements of the profession…

Explores the relationship between mathematics instruction and writing instruction, particularly their similarity in causing student anxiety. Offers specific teaching methods for reducing writing anxiety. (HB)

Shares a conversation between a second-grade student and teacher during a prewriting conference. Emphasizes that, in order to become writers, students need to do their own writing. (MG)

Identifies three basic types of students of technical writing who fear writing with a computer. Offers suggestions to encourage them (and all technical writing students) to at least become more comfortable and current with writing technology. (SR)

Discusses five things which help the author (herself a reluctant writer) to push past her own doubts, and notes how they are helpful in working with students who are reluctant to write. (SR)

Research into writing anxiety is an off-shoot of research into oral communication anxiety. At first, researchers thought that people with high oral communication anxiety tended to compensate by writing. However, when the Daly-Miller Writing Apprehension Test was used, it was found that the link between oral and written anxiety did not exist. The…

While the roots of students' fear of writing go deep, students fear most the surface of writing. They fear that a person's language indicates the state not only of the mind but of the soul--thus their writing can make them look stupid and morally depraved. This fear of error and lack of confidence prevent students from developing a command of the…

A recent trend in composition studies has been a call for the "feminization" of composition pedagogy. Collaborative learning pedagogues have sought to reconstruct the classroom as a site of social cooperation, connectedness, and nurturance and have re-envisioned composition as an act of understanding rather than of agonistics.…

Argues that reading literature broadens possibilities for the writing of literature, expanding not only the students' range of style but the topics about which it is permissible to write. Posits that teachers should introduce new kinds of writing to students so they will perceive more possibilities and open up as writers. (JC)

Discusses why writers write, and cites caring about the response to writing as the key to development. Urges teachers to be sensitive to the social nature of writing and to the vulnerability of writers, and to demonstrate and encourage writing for fun, enjoyment, and power. (MM)

A composition researcher collected stories from students with writing anxiety, using qualitative research tools of interview and interpretation. In literary theory it is not unusual to speak of anxiety of influence when referring to the torment of proving one is equal to a revered author. The critic Harold Bloom presented it as his theory of the…

Emphasizes the importance of paying attention to how writers feel about their writing as well as what they think about it. States that textbooks deal with writers' feelings incidentally. Defines "flow" as being the opposite of writer's block. Defines "liking" and its implications for a writer's work-in-progress. Asks whether…