Bibliography, Composition Theory


Rebecca Moore Howard

Department of Interdisciplinary Writing
Colgate University
Hamilton NY 13346
O (315) 824-7315
F (315) 824-7045
E-mail bhoward@center.colgate.edu

Composition Theory:
An Introduction to Contemporary American Approaches

1. Recent history of rhetorical education
2. Current-traditionalist theories
3. Process theories
4. Cognitivist theories
5. Social constructionist theories
6. Expressivist theories
7. Feminist theories
8. Postmodern theories

1. Recent history of rhetorical education

Berlin, James A. Writing Instruction in Nineteenth-Century American Colleges. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1984.

Brody, Miriam. Manly Writing: Gender, Rhetoric, and the Rise of Composition. Southern Illinois UP, 1993. PE1404 .B74 1993

Lunsford, Andrea A. "On Reclaiming Rhetorica." Reclaiming Rhetorica: Women in the Rhetorical Tradition. Ed. Andrea A. Lunsford. Pittsburgh: U Pittsburgh P, 1995. 3-8.

Mulderig, Gerald. "Gertrude Buck's Rhetorical Theory and Modern Composition Teaching." Rhetoric Society Quarterly 14 (1984): 96-104.

Schultz, Lucille M. "Elaborating Our History: A Look at Mid-19th Century First Books of Composition." College Composition and Communication 45.1 (February 1994): 10-30.

Simmons, Sue Carter. "Constructing Writers: Barrett Wendell's Pedagogy at Harvard." College Composition and Communication 46.3 (October 1995): 327-52.

Stewart, Donald C. "Harvard's Influence on English Studies: Perceptions from Three Universities in the Early Twentieth Century." College Composition and Communication 43.4 (December 1992): 455-71.

Varnum, Robin. "The History of Composition: Reclaiming Our Lost Generations." Journal of Advanced Composition 12.1 (Winter 1992): 39-56.

Woods, Marjorie Curry. "Among Men--Not Boys: Histories of Rhetoric and the Exclusion of Pedagogy." Rhetoric Society Quarterly 22.1 (Winter 1992): 18-26.

Wozniak, John. English Composition in Eastern Colleges, 1850-1940. Washington: UP of America, 1978.

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2. Current-traditionalist theories

Crowley, Sharon. The Methodical Memory: Invention in Current-Traditional Rhetoric. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP.

Hairston, Maxine. "Breaking Our Bonds and Reaffirming Our Connections." College Composition and Communication 36 (1985): 77-8.

Russell, David R. "Vygotsky, Dewey, and Externalism: Beyond the Student/Discipline Dichotomy." Journal of Advanced Composition 13.1 (Winter 1993): 173-98.

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3. Process theories

Britton, James. "The Composing Processes and the Functions of Writing." Research on Composing: Points of Departure. Ed. Charles R. Cooper and Lee Odell. Urbana IL: NCTE, 1978: 13-28.

Carroll, Joyce Armstrong. "Process into Product: Teacher Awareness of the Writing Process Affects Students' Written Products." New Directions in Composition Research. Ed. Richard Beach and Lillian S. Bridwell. New York: Guilford, 1984: 315-33.

Faigley, Lester. "Competing Theories of Process: A Critique and a Proposal." College English 48 (1986): 527-42.

Gebhardt, Richard C. "Initial Plans and Spontaneous Composition: Toward a Comprehensive Theory of the Writing Process." College English 44 (1982): 620-7.

Hairston, Maxine. "Different Products, Different Processes: A Theory About Writing." College Composition and Communication 37 (1986): 442-52.

Hillocks, George, Jr. "Inquiry and the Composing Process: Theory and Research." College English 44 (1982): 659-73.

Myers, Miles. A Model for the Composing Process. Berkeley: Bay Area Writing Project, U of California, 1980.

Reither, James A. "Writing and Knowing: Toward Redefining the Writing Process." College English 47.6 (October 1985): 620-628.

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4. Cognitivist theories

D'Angelo, Frank J. "Rhetoric and Cognition: Toward a Metatheory of Discourse." PRE/TEXT 3 (1982): 105-19.

Dinitz, Sue, and Jean Kiedaisch. "Persuasion from a Eighteen-Year-Old's Perspective: Perry and Piaget." Journal of Teaching Writing 9.2 (Fall/Winter 1990): 209-222.

Flower, Linda, et al. "A Cognitive Process Theory of Writing." College Composition and Communication 32 (1981): 365-87.

Jacobs, Suzanne, and Adela Karliner. "Helping Writers to Think: The Effect of Speech Roles in Individual Conferences on the Quality of Thought in Student Writing." College English 38 (1977): 489-505.

Krupa, G. "Perry's Model of Development and the Teaching of Freshman Writing." Freshman English News 11 (1982): 17-20.

Lunsford, Andrea A. "Cognitive Development and the Basic Writer." College English 41 (1979): 38-46.

MacDonald, Susan Peck. "Problem Definition in Academic Writing." College English 49 (1987): 315-331.

Odell, Lee. "Piaget, Problem-Solving, and Freshman Composition." College Composition and Communication 24 (1973): 36-42.

Rose, Mike. "Narrowing the Mind and Page: Remedial Writers and Cognitive Reductionism." College Composition and Communication 39 (1988): 267-302.

Spear, Karen I. "Promoting Cognitive Development in the Writing Center." Writing Centers: Theory and Administration. Ed. Gary A. Olson. Urbana, IL: NCTE, 1984. 62-76.

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5. Social constructionist theories

Berkenkotter, Carol. "Paradigm Debates, Turf Wars, and the Conduct of Sociocognitive Inquiry in Composition." College Composition and Communication 42.2 (May 1991): 151-169.

Bizzell, Patricia. "Cognition, Convention, and Certainty: What We Need to Know about Writing." Pre/Text 3 (1982): 213-44.

Bruffee, Kenneth A. "Peer Tutoring and the 'Conversation of Mankind.' Writing Centers: Theory and Administration. Ed. Gary A. Olson. Urbana, IL: NCTE, 1984. 3-15.

Ede, Lisa. "Writing as a Social Process: A Theoretical Foundation for Writing Centers?" The Writing Center Journal 9, No. 2 (1989): 3-14.

Kent, Thomas. "On the Very Idea of a Discourse Community." College Composition and Communication 42.4 (December 1991): 425-45.

Murphy, Christina. "The Writing Center and Social Constructionist Theory." Intersections: Theory-Practice in the Writing Center. Ed. Joan A. Mullin and Ray Wallace. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English, 1994. 25-38.

Rafoth, Bennett A. "Discourse Community: Where Writers, Readers, and Texts Come Together." The Social Construction of Written Communication. Ed. Bennett A. Rafoth and Donald L. Rubin. Norwood NJ: Ablex, 1988: 131-46.

Rubin, Donald L. "Four Dimensions of Social Construction in Written Communication." The Social Construction of Written Communication. Ed. Bennett A. Rafoth and Donald L. Rubin. Norwood NJ: Ablex, 1988: 1-33.

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6. Expressivist theories

Briggs, John C. "Peter Elbow, Kenneth Burke, and the Idea of Magic." Journal of Advanced Composition 11.2 (Fall 1991): 377-94.

Elbow, Peter. Voice and Writing. Davis, CA: Hermagoras P, 1994.

Fishman, Stephen, and Lucille McCarthy. "Is Expressivism Dead?" College English 54.6 (October 1992): 647-61.

Harris, Jeanette. Expressive Discourse. Dallas, TX: Southern Methodist UP, 1990.

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7. Feminist theories

Clark, Suzanne. "Rhetoric, Social Construction, and Gender: Is It Bad to Be Sentimental?" Writing Theory and Critical Theory. Ed. John Clifford and John Schilb. New York: Modern Language Association, 1994. 96-108.

Flynn, Elizabeth A. "Feminist Theories/Feminist Composition." College English 57.2 (February 1995): 201-212.

Frey, Olivia. "Beyond Literary Darwinism: Women's Voices and Critical Discourse." College English 52 (September 1990): 507-526.

Graves, Heather Brodie. "Regrinding the Lens of Gender: Problematizing 'Writing as a Woman.'" Written Communication 10.2 (April 1993): 139-63.

Jarratt, Susan C. "Feminism and Composition: The Case for Conflict." Contending with Words: Composition and Rhetoric in a Postmodern Age. Ed. Patricia Harkin and John Schilb. New York: MLA, 1991. 105-23.

Kaplan, Nancy, and Eva Farrell. "Weavers of Webs: A Portrait of Young Women on the Net." The Arachnet Electronic Journal of Virtual Culture 2.3 (1994). Send e-mail to LISTSERV@KENTVM.KENT.EDU with the command: GET KAPLAN V2N3.

Lamb, Catherine E. "Beyond Argument in Feminist Composition." College Composition and Communication 42 (1991): 11-24.

Swearingen, C. Jan. "Women's Ways of Writing, or, Images, Self-Images, and Graven Images." College Composition and Communication 45.2 (May 1994): 251-7.

Worsham, Lynn. "Writing against Writing: The Predicament of Ecriture Feminine in Composition Studies." Harkin, Patricia, and John Schilb, eds. Contending with Words: Composition and Rhetoric in a Postmodern Age. New York: MLA, 1991: 82-104.

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8. Postmodern theories

Faigley, Lester. Fragments of Rationality: Postmodernity and the Subject of Composition. U Pittsburgh P, 1992.

Flannery, Kathryn T. "Composing and the Question of Agency." College English 53.6 (October 1991): 701-13.

Freisinger, Randall R. "Voicing the Self: Toward a Pedagogy of Resistance in a Postmodern Age." Voices on Voice: Definitions, Perspectives, Inquiry. Ed. Kathleen Blake Yancey. Urbana: NCTE, 1994.

Joyner, Michael. "The Writing Center Conference and the Textuality of Power." The Writing Center Journal 12.1 (Fall 1991): 80-89.

Knoper, Randall. "Deconstruction, Process, Writing." Reclaiming Pedagogy: The Rhetoric of the Classroom. Ed. Patricia Donahue and Ellen Quandahl. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1989. 128-43.

Miller, J. Hillis. "Composition and Decomposition: Deconstruction and the Teaching of Writing." Composition and Literature. Ed. Winifred Horner. 38-56.

Nash, Thomas. "Derrida's 'Play' and Prewriting for the Laboratory." Writing Centers: Theory and Administration. Ed. Gary A. Olson. Urbana, IL: NCTE, 1984. 182-97.

Schilb, John. "Cultural Studies, Postmodernism, and Composition." Contending with Words: Composition and Rhetoric in a Postmodern Age. Ed. Patricia Harkin and John Schilb. New York: MLA, 1991. 173-88.

Smit, David W. "Hall of Mirrors: Antifoundationalist Theory and the Teaching of Writing." JAC: A Journal of Composition Theory 15.1 (1995): 35-53.

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