Date:    Thu, 9 Apr 1998 09:23:52 EDT
<br>From:    AAllan <AAllan[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]AOL.COM>
<br>Subject: Freshman composition - again
<br>
<br>Andrea writes :
<br>
<br>>>The writing training I received in high school and college never really gave
<br>me anything
<br>concrete to work with. . . .  The grading of these papers may have provided
<br>some instruction, but it was
<br>haphazard.  To make a programming analogy, it would be like writing a program
<br>based on an
<br>incomplete specification, then having the user test it and tell you piece by
<br>piece what
<br>was wrong. . . .
<br>
<br>Maybe it would be useful to some students to learn how to write outside the
<br>context of
<br>literary criticism.<<
<br>
<br>  I agree with her view of the usual kind of writing instruction.
<br>  I and my department do something different. It's procedural, explicit, and
<br>generally applicable. You'll find it in (ahem):
<br>_Essentials of Writing to the Point_ by Allan A. Metcalf. Harcourt Brace 1995.
<br>ISBN 0-15-501709-8.
<br>
<br>- Allan Metcalf
<br>