Dear Readers:

Reading through the articles for this issue, we were struck by the range of topics our authors have covered. There are discussions computer use in all phases of the writing process: prewriting, writing, and revision. We think our readers will find the information presented in these articles most interesting.

Our first article, James Strickland's "Computers, Invention, and the Power to Change Student Writing" deals with the computer as a prewriting aid. Strickland's study looks at both the quality and quantity of ideas produced by various invention techniques and programs. Strickland also compares his results with similar studies by Hugh Burns and Helen Schwartz.

The next two articles, Thea van der Geest's "The Development of a Writing Aid for Secondary Education" and Cynthia L. Selfe's "Creating a Computer-Supported Writing Lab: Sharing Stories and Creating Vision" cover different aspects of the computer as a writing tool. Geest's article, our second contribution from The Netherlands, describes the trials of creating SPIRIT (after translation from Dutch, the acronym stands for "Planning, Input, Revision, Communication"). SPIRIT is a software package that assists students not only in the

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mechanical, word-processing phase of writing, but at all stages in the writing process.

Selfe's article recounts the difficulties and rewards of designing and creating a computer-based writing lab. Her narrative will provide newcomers to computer-aided writing with insight into computer-supported writing labs; veterans will enjoy the stories of "how it came to be" and visions of what such labs signify.

We also have two articles on using computers to help students revise their writing. Ann Duin's "Computer Exercises to Encourage Rethinking and Revision" discusses Duin's experiences with ACCESS (A Computer Composing Educational Software System) at the University of Minnesota. ACCESS helps teachers design computer programs that aid revision; ACCESS does the actual programming, the instructor provides the menus and overall program design.

Sherry Burgus Little's "The Computer as Audience: Using HOMER, a Text-Analysis Program" is a combination review-teaching guide to HOMER. Text-analysis programs have long suffered from two criticisms: they discourage critical thinking on the student's part during revision, and the programs often err in their advice. HOMER is a text-analysis program that encourages students to question its revision suggestions.

And lastly, our two regular columns provide some feedback that we can use in our on-going attempt to integrate computers into writing classes and programs. Lee Roger Taylor, Jr.'s "The Mobius Catch" is a spirited essay on the double-bind that many writing program directors and instructors face when they try to get

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funding for computer labs for their classes: on one hand, directors and instructors are "suspected of using microcomputers because they can't teach, and, on the other, they're suspected of using microcomputers because they are trying to avoid teaching."

Ken Autrey's "Printout" reviews three new books on writing and word processing: Gail Parson's Hand in Hand: The Writing Process and the Microcomputer; Dawn and Raymond Rodrigues' Teaching Writing with a Word Processor, Grades 7-13; and Gwen Solomon's Teaching Writing with Computers: The Power Process. Autrey compares and evaluates the merit of these three books for computer-aided writing programs and classes.

While the articles in this issue weren't selected to cover the main phases of the writing process, we feel that the range of topics they cover is due to more than chance. One sign of healthy progress in a field is the investigation of all aspects of that field. We hope that this issue is as interesting and rewarding for you to read as it was for us to assemble.