A study examined whether using a tree diagram (a graphic, multidimensional classification device) as a prewriting organizer would provide students with a systematic method of searching for and organizing the content of their descriptive writing to meet some communication goal. One-hundred twenty-three seventh grade students were classified as…

A year-long study of the writing growth of eight seventh grade children was conducted to determine whether knowledge of reading rhetoric could be directly applied to personal writing behavior. It was assumed that active comprehension of a distinctive literary model would provide awareness of the structure of narrative prose and improve the…