The three appendices contain material that might have been incorporated into earlier chapters or left out altogether. If the thesis of the McKenzie collection is that literary scholars can profitably use word processors, the new book by Collins and Sommers p. 74 takes as its thesis the assumption that computers are compatible with current composition research. The emphasis here is mainly, though not exclusively, on word processing. Writers learn best when writing is taught as a process in decentralized classrooms. The microcomputer is most valuable as a writing tool enhancing our writers' abilities to explore, to articulate, and to reshape.
Microcomputers are counter-productive when used in a theoretical vacuum.
It's humorous, unfolding as a series of journal entries. But it conforms to the genre nevertheless. After an extended explanation of ROM, RAM, and kilobytes, he warns against allowing the hacker inside us to get in the way of the writer. Part Two moves beyond computer basics and on to a series of seven essays on particular instructional uses for computers. The chapter p. 75 by Linda L. Bickel on the use of word processing in middle school relies heavily on anecdotal reports about the motivational power of computers.