This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 17 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) reasoning strategies used by gifted and average fifth grade children in written discourse; (2) the effect of mode of discourse on the syntactic complexity of the written expression of learning disabled students at three grade levels; (3) metainstructional, extralinguistic awareness, and the development of writing skills in college-level basic writers; (4) indicators of quality in natural language composition; (5) students' perceptions of composing as reflected through Kelly repertory grids; (6) the effects of an assigned rhetorical context on the syntax and holistic quality of the writing of first-year college students; (7) the relationship of television viewing, reading, and the home environment to children's creativity, creative writing, and writing ability; (8) autobiographical writing in adolescents; and (9) relationships between selected dimensions of writing and drawing in first grade children's compositions. (FL)