An essay's motive or research problem consists of the rhetorical moves illuminating why that essay matters--what puzzling elements of a primary source it resolves, which contradictions in the data it explains, or what gaps in the literature it fills. This article invites college instructors to dedicate some of their classroom time to teaching…

Teachers as readers would have a more pleasant and stimulating job if they were reading essays that interested them. The step to reading a good paper is designing a good assignment. Some areas that need to be defined for students before they begin to write are outlined. (MLW)

Essays and essay tests need to be a central feature of every class. Informing students about what is inadequate in their essays and counseling them on how to improve seem to be impossible, time-consuming tasks. The use of codes or abbreviations is described. (MLW)

A discussion of holistic scoring, developed for use on essays in composition courses, argues that it can be used effectively in other disciplines. Procedures for establishing criteria of quality, ideas for identifying writing features relevant to the discipline in question, and methods of providing feedback to students are suggested. (MSE)

One technique for teaching college-level report writing consists of an essay that students use as a model for their own writing. This model, in turn, contains guidelines for composing a short essay, from title and subheadings to sentence and paragraph structure, word selection, errors to avoid, and revision. (MSE)

Reports an experiment in collaborative essay testing in a college course, finding some improvement in achievement, significant reduction in test anxiety, and student engagement in reflective thinking similar to metacognition. In addition, partners generally participated equally in test preparation and content. Suggestions are made for implementing…