ERIC Number: ED198533
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1980
Reference Count: N/A
Writing From Given Information. Collaborative Research Study No. 3.
Gray, Stephanie; Keech, Catharine
An approach to teaching expository writing and research in support of that approach are presented in this book. The first section of the book discusses writing from given information, a technique by which teachers give students collections of nonverbal data (charts, graphs, maps, and other pictorial information) that the students must organize in written assignments. This section contains a rationale for using the approach, examples of assignments using the approach, ways to organize assignments so that stylistic strategies can be emphasized, classroom use of writing from given information, and suggestions for creating packets of given information appropriate for particular students. The second section of the book reports on two research studies comparing groups of ninth and eleventh grade students who were taught either with or without packets of given information. This section contains discussions of the research design, the methodology used, and the results. The research section concludes with the observation that, although there were mixed results from the studies, writing from given information in a teaching method can have a positive effect on student writing ability and can add to a good teacher's storehouse of resources. (Appendixes contain samples of student writing from the research projects.) (RL)
Descriptors: Comparative Analysis, Descriptive Writing, Expository Writing, Grade 11, Grade 9, Secondary Education, Teaching Methods, Writing Instruction, Writing Research, Writing Skills
Publications Department, Bay Area Writing Project, 5635 Tolman Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 ($3.00 postage and handling).
Publication Type: Guides - Classroom - Teacher; Reports - Research; Books
Education Level: N/A
Sponsor: National Endowment for the Humanities (NFAH), Washington, DC.; Carnegie Corp. of New York, NY.
Authoring Institution: California Univ., Berkeley. School of Education.