Looks at how the theories of William Perry and Jean Piaget explain choices students made in writing persuasive essays. Examines the implications of their theories for teaching persuasion to eighteen-year olds. (SR)

An informal survey of ghostwriters confirmed that communication is vital to success, with strategies including careful listening, getting to know the speaker well, understanding the audience, accurately reflecting the speaker's viewpoint, and fine tuning the mechanics and tone of the speech. (MSE)

Discusses developments in the field of mass communications over the last 10 years. Suggests that old polarities have been finally transcended or deconstructed and that a new set of questions is emerging which concern a range of particular issues and processes rather than generalities expressed in terms of the now untenable categories of viewer,…

Offers four brief descriptions from composition/writing teachers of class activities that work well for them, addressing using a grocery list to help students understand why audience awareness is important; using group work to help students analyze literature; having students define and describe good writing; and helping students with specified…

Presents a colloqium in which five business communication scholars examined some of the dilemmas of business communication research. Discusses identifying research audiences; new knowledge versus practical problem solving; differences within the discipline; publishing research; and being hired, tenured, and promoted. (SR)

Reports on a survey of 78 newspaper editors. Includes information about the types of readership research that newspapers conduct, the extent to which such research has influenced editorial decisions, and the characteristics of newspaper organizations that conduct research. Suggests that while most newspapers conduct research, the type and quality…

After defining exactly what a term paper is, this book discusses the steps in writing a term paper, including choosing a topic, doing library research, writing an outline, taking notes, writing a rough draft, and editing and polishing the final paper. The book offers special tips on how to benefit from the use of a computer in the…

Through three semesters of teaching the nonfiction essay, an instructor has come to terms with the fact that she has yet to attempt the type of personal essay that she asks her students to write, essays in which personal experiences with death are shared. However, a reminiscence on death through a recounting of her reactions to and understanding…

In a Purdue University English 101 class, students were told to identify an audience outside the classroom for each paper they wrote. The central challenge to composition teachers is preserving elements valued in teaching academic writing in the context of ill-defined problems to be addressed outside the classroom. Most useful for instructors…

In the broadest sense, rhetoric and rhetorical studies are primarily concerned with using language in context and, thus, must focus on the collaborative, negotiated dynamics of discourse and discourse production. These broad principles provided the basis for the "Lyceum Project" (named for the public forum first developed by the Greek…

While recent arguments often propose that students should be engaged as writers in service to the larger community, the question remains how to engage students as intellectuals, writers, and creators of knowledge in an intellectual setting that mostly asks them to be passive learners. In Project Renaissance, leaving behind the familiar boundaries…

Planbox escalation is a linguistic method of analyzing narrative arguments. This persuasive procedure consists of 12 strategies: (1) begin with information that all sides can agree on; (2) prepare to respond by rejecting outright, questioning, ignoring or replacing the audience's opinions; (3) make the subject as attractive as possible; (4)…

To bridge the gap between broad philosophical claims about the value of forensics and actual current practices and experiences, the concept of the "total" forensic program offers critical components that are educationally valid with numerous advantages for participants and sponsoring departments. The total approach is defined as the most…

A teacher presents a writing exercise designed to facilitate audience-directed, critical thinking during the process of composing, that starts students thinking in terms of sorites and enthymemes. Students first read a CIA manual, "Psychological Operations in Guerrilla Warfare," that instructs the Contra guerrillas in illegal acts and…

Discusses the problems of deciding whether to use, not use, or revise noun compounds. Presents guidelines that ask writers to weigh the familiarity, efficiency, and stylistic efficacy of the compound against alternatives for particular audiences. (MS)