Notes that the notion of authors consulting their audiences is an old one. Discusses how Homer, Ernest Hemingway, and James Joyce reworked their writing to suit the taste of their audiences. (RS)

Discusses the relationship and value of semiotics to the established domains of information science. Highlights include documentation; computer operations; the language of computing; automata theory; linguistics; speech and writing; and the written language as a unifying principle for the document and the computer. (93 references) (LRW)

Argues that the principles of stasis and kairos belie the reputation of classical rhetoric as obsessively individualistic and that they point toward a social constructionist foundation for classical rhetoric. These principles are strikingly similar; both act as controlling principles of rhetoric and determine both the generation and aim of…

Suggests book report questions, covering the hierarchy of thinking skills on one 5" by 8" index card. (MM)

Reports on a study examining how communication modality--audiovisual versus written--affects individuals' judgments of others' truthfulness or deceptiveness. (SR)

Explores the relationship between life histories, identities, and the act of writing through two students' experiences with academic writing. Diagrams how a writer's experiences shape opinions, voice, and self-concept, which are brought to bear on the act of writing. (SK)

Criticizes content-area teachers for not knowing what they are talking about when they criticize English teachers. Suggests that students be given the same opportunity to understand the self-evident truths of written sentences as was given to teachers--by doing lots of writing. (RS)

Argues that composition teachers should assign essay topics on writing because, by writing about writing, students can synthesize and master the material covered in class. (SR)

Presents seven short position papers and four responses (first aired at a conference entitled "A Critique of the Things That Go without Saying in Composition Studies"), which identify and critique unstated assumptions in composition studies that are so widely accepted they are, in effect, invisible. (SR)

Discusses classical principles of style and composition as set forth by 18th-, 19th-, and early 20th-century rhetoric and composition authors. Shows how George Burton Hotchkiss in 1916, in the first important college business communication textbook, advocated business communication principles combining the most useful parts of modern rhetoric. (SR)

Discusses writing of United States Navy personnel to support the wide usefulness of the rhetorical concept of ethos. Shows how the concept is applied within a variety of naval contexts, from naval personnel evaluations to ship-repair reports. Discusses the Tailhook episode to show how lack of understanding of ethos can have adverse effects on the…

Explains how a teacher came to have his own computer lab. Recommends a five-step procedure for other teachers who would like to have a computer lab in their classroom: (1) be an opportunist; (2) take pictures; (3) publish students' work; (4) use the computers well; and (5) ask for computers. Includes brief descriptions of related hardware and…

Examines what "hypertext" means to literary criticism on the one hand (i.e., intertextuality) and computing on the other, to determine how the two concepts may serve each other in a mutually productive way. (GLR)

Reviews two books by Susan Miller: "Rescuing the Subject: A Critical Introduction to Rhetoric and the Writer" (1989) and "Textual Carnivals: The Politics of Composition" (1991). Notes how she rereads dominant histories of rhetoric and writing instruction, argues for a theory of textuality, and illustrates how attention to…

Discusses how writing teachers translate literacy into empowerment. Considers the examples of notes passed from student to either another student or the teacher. Proposes a pedagogy of appreciating student writing rather than treating it as inferior or idiotic. (HB)