Teaching students to use specific details is perhaps the college writing teacher's most troublesome job. Much time and effort is wasted by marking students' papers with comments such as "specify,""details,""illustrate," or "demonstrate." Significant concrete details should occur to a writer before the generalization does, since the best kind of…

Describes how the four traditional kinds of writing (description, narration, exposition, and argumentation) are used in advertising and suggests ways that advertising and the four modes may be used to teach composition. (DD)

Brief individual conferences between teacher and student during the course of writing a composition helps the student to clarify his or her thinking on the topic, thus improving writing skills and developing enthusiasm and pleasure in written communication. (JD)

Presents a writing exercise which stimulates college freshmen's imaginations and suits adolescents' interest in a favorite subject for composition--themselves. (JM)

Ascertaining that the college freshman and professional writing he analyzed did not differ significantly in the rank order or frequency with which transitional devices were used in description, author advises that it may be a waste of time to teach high school and college students these devices as if they were not already a basic component of…

Suggests ways to help students revise their written compositions by teaching them to "see" their work again. (DF)

Included among the 10 commandments for good writing are: (1) Write with verbs and nouns; (2) Write for yourself and other people; (3) Do not write in jargon; (4) Read aloud your writing; (5) Do not write cluttered sentences; and (6) Use concrete words and phrases. (JN)

Based on courses showing teachers how to use many kinds of objects to teach writing and stimulated by ideas from teachers across the country, this booklet contains suggestions for helping students improve their writing. The booklet discusses writing about objects as a process involving the following steps: making observations and gathering data,…

The beginning creative writer usually needs to learn the distinction between creative writing and purely informational or reportorial exposition. This can often be accomplished through writing assignments incorporating the concepts of New Journalism--the method of rendering realistically, from the point of view of an outsider who has temporarily…

Based on actual, successful teaching and writing experiences, this book provides practical information on writing for children and teenagers. Part I, "A Practical Guide to Publication," includes discussions of (1) the writer's work habits and writing techniques; (2) characterization; (3) dialogue; (4) creating atmosphere, suspense, and emotion;…

Describes a writing assignment that uses the song "America the Beautiful" to point the following six reasons why America is beautiful: skies, mountains, grain, Pilgrims, heroes, and dreams. (NKA)

The drawings of Saul Steinberg can be a workable way of introducing the student to composition. Article explains how to overcome the getting started" problem. (Author)

Simplification of Haiku to enable fifth graders to write their own verse. (AF)

Presents the journalistic essay as both appealing to college composition students and helpful in teaching them writing clarity, accuracy, organization, and the integration of narration, description, and exposition. (DD)