Stephen A. Bernhardt

Teaching College Composition with Computers: A Program Evaluation Study.

This program evaluation was undertaken to assess the broad, measurable effects of using computers to teach introductory college composition. In total, 24 classes were studied—12 control classes and 12 experimental—with the experimental computer classes meeting in the lab for half of their instructional time. Data on the success of the program were collected from a range of sources: pre- and posttests of student writing under both impromptu and take-home conditions; pre- and posttests of writing anxiety; records on attendance, tardiness, withdrawals, and homework and essay assignment completion; end-of-term course evaluation by both teachers and students; and self-report data collected from teacher meetings and teacher logs. Results favored the use of computers, with computer students revising and improving their posttest essays (especially discourse-level features) at levels significantly better than those of regular students. Those students in experimental sections who chose to compose on computers at the end of the term outperformed the group as a whole and performed significantly better than those experimental students who chose to compose with pen and paper. Attitudinal data from both students and teachers also favored the use of computers.

Results of a Survey , of ATTW Members, 2003

This article presents the results of an April 2003 electronic survey of ATTW members. Results and interpretations are categorized as follows: a professional profile of respondents; member observations about ATTW and its activities (member participation, appraisal of benefits, and preferred topics for TCQ); and current issues and views of the fields future.

The Writer, the Reader, and the Scientific Text

Using examples from journal articles in the natural sciences, the author argues that scientific writing has conventions of personality which are rhetorically constrained. Writers represent themselves and their readers at specific junctures in the text through the use of pronominals, verbs entailing reasoning, modals expressing possibility or obligation, and adjectives or adverbs which qualify assertions. Seven rhetorical acts are identified which are likely to bring the writer and/or the reader to the surface of the text: 1) acknowledging assistance; 2) referring to ones own research; 3) justifying hypothesis selection; 4) justifying methods chosen or departures from established methods; 5) explaining adjustments to results or inability to interpret results; 6) stating conclusions and comparing conclusions to those of other studies; and 7) discussing implications for reader behavior.

Knowledge management and pharmaceutical development teams: using writing to guide science

Introduces a way of working with drug development teams that relies on writing as a key development activity. The authors argue that structured writing can help team members engage in substantive conflict and reach consensus on difficult issues.

The design of sexism: the case of an army maintenance manual

The author compares 1970 and 1990 versions of the US Army publication PS: The Preventive Maintenance Monthly. it is seen that visual communication becomes dated even more quickly than does textual communication. The later version of PS offers a visual design that has been toned down, tamed, subdued; what had been a visual rhetoric with clear (in hindsight) sexist assumptions has yielded to a rhetoric with more professional, more inter-racial, and more neutral assumptions that reflect the changed demands of contemporary culture. Nevertheless, it is asserted that a rhetoric of visual attractiveness will probably continue to exploit gender, and that attempts to neutralize gender bias are likely to fail (to some extent), for only the distance of time allows sexism to be seen. >

Teaching College Composition with Computers: A Time Observation Study

To understand the ways that teachers adapt writing instruction to a microcomputer classroom, the researchers observed and recorded activities minute-by-minute in four classes for a full semester of introductory composition. Two experienced teachers each taught two classes: one traditional class and one class that met for half of its time in a microcomputer classroom. This report contrasts their classes, calling attention to (a) the time pressures created by teaching with computers, (b) issues in training students to be proficient at word processing and revising, (c) ways a microcomputer classroom can foster workshop approaches to teaching writing, (d) the need for carefully structured classroom activities, and (e) the importance of teachers sharing with students common values for learning with computers in a group setting.

From Writer to Designer: Modeling Composing Processes in a Hypertext Environment.

This article discusses collaborative design in the context of developing a Toolbook hypertext intended to introduce graduate students to the fields of rhetoric and professional communication. It examines the new grammar and rhetoric of hypertext, discusses the importance of document planning within an emergent design, and argues for a functional aesthetic.

Improving Document Review Practices in Pharmaceutical Companies

Document review practices in the research and development functions of many pharmaceutical companies can be frustrating and inefficient, at least in part because these practices are poorly managed. Although the literature on review practice is fairly robust, there is a disjuncture between what researchers know and how reviewers work. The author draws on his experience as a consultant and trainer to many pharmaceutical companies to outline the causes and effects of poor review practice. He offers recommendations to enhance the value and increase the efficiency of reviews.

Seeing the text

The physical fact of the text, with its spatial appearance on the page, requires visual apprehension: a text can be seen, must be seen, in a process which is essentially different from the perception of speech. The written mode necessitates the arrangement of script or typeface, a process which gives visual cues to the verbal organization of the text. We might think of texts arranged along a continuum, from texts at one end which convey relatively little information visually, to texts at the opposite end which reveal substantial information through such visible cues as white space, illustrations, variation in typeface, and use of nonalphabetic symbols, such as numbers, asterisks, and punctuation. In terms of this continuum, an essay would fall well toward the nonvisually informative end. Certainly, paragraph indentation, margins, capitalization, and sentence punctuation provide some information to the reader, but such information is extremely limited, with most of the cues as to organization and logical relations buried within the text. At the other extreme of the continuum would be texts which display their structure, providing the reader/viewer with a schematic representation of the divisions and hierarchies which organize the text.

Missed Opportunities in the Review and Revision of Clinical Study Reports

Circulating written drafts and conducting roundtable reviews are two important document-development activities in many work sites. Previous studies suggest that review processes are frustrating for participants and have substantial inefficiencies caused by conflicting participant purposes. This article presents two case studies of the document-review practices for clinical study reports from a large pharmaceutical company, paying particular attention to whether review efforts contributed to improvements in document quality. Findings suggest that document review did not lead to demonstrable improvement in report quality. The authors offer recommendations for improving document-review practices.