Although first enunciated in 1827 by Samuel Newman, the modes of discourse--narration, description, exposition, and argument--were not very popular until formulated in 1866 and presented in the United States in a rhetoric textbook in 1885. After 1890, they were gradually accepted by the most influential rhetoricians of the day, and their use in…

This annotated list provides information about journals that might serve as markets for articles on the theory and practice of teaching writing at all educational levels. Each annotation contains the journal title, editor's name and address, and an editorial description that discusses the journal's subject area, the level of treatment, the…

Seven methods for helping students find theme topics are presented in this document. The methods include the following: setting up a library browsing table of records, books, and criticism related to the work of literature that is being studied; permitting students to choose topics based on observation of the surrounding community or reactions to…

This guide offers students suggestions on keeping a journal in which they record what they do, think, and feel. The guide examines the purposes of keeping a journal; discusses writing to a correspondent who will respond to the journal entries; shows how to express thoughts and feelings about events instead of just reporting on the events; offers…

There is a logical sequence in the steps of a freshman English course, the goal of which is the comprehension of the writing process and a readiness to move forward with that process. Students must first learn prewriting--an outpouring on paper of every thought connected with a given topic. This is followed by selecting ideas, formulating a…

This paper examines technical writing at the high school level and suggests methods of teaching technical writing to students. Such topics are discussed as demonstration, mechanism description, causal analysis, detail, spatial order, and chronological order. It is argued that writing about objects can sharpen a writer's powers of observation and…

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)

One critical function of anthropology is to use ethnography to describe, analyze, protest, and interrupt oppressive social practices. A process of systematic negative critique allows the ethnographer to confront cultural hegemony and opens ways to transform the ideologies of schools and other institutions. (VM)

Describes reviewing the basics of descriptive writing by having students compare the images described in E. B. White's "Once More to the Lake," with those in the film "On Golden Pond." Students then write a descriptive paragraph, from an internal or external perspective, about a magazine advertisement chosen for its sensory appeal. (HTH)

This book describes "Writing Pictures," a daily developmental writing exercise in which students visualize a moment in their life of their own choosing, sketch it quickly, and write four guided sentences in paragraph format about it. Beginning with level one, it takes students through the basic format, and, with time, students progress upward…

Author believes that all forms of communication are enhanced by the use of similes and he writes the entire article in similes to prove it. (RB)