This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 39 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) the assessment of writing ability; (2) small group discussion as a prewriting activity; (3) effects of evaluation methods in learning technical writing skills; (4) the effects of prior knowledge and audience on writing; (5) teaching creative writing; (6) a study of the word processor and composing; (7) using a learning styles approach to teaching composition; (8) parent involvement in the composing processes of kindergarten children; (9) a comparison of two approaches to using writing across the curriculum; (10) sentence combining; (11) literature as equipment for writing; (12) regression in student writing performance as a function of unrecognized changes in task complexity; (13) using transparencies in a model workshop to develop learning, teaching, and writing; (14) criteria for and consistency in freshman composition evaluation; (15) the validation of the writing assessment test; (16) acquiring practical reasoning through teacher-student interaction in dialogue journals; (17) letter writing; and (18) small group writing conferences. (EL)