Certainly these personal connections make research meaningful for student writers. In order to write a strong essay, the author must know who will be reading the essay, and what the reader's response ought to be. However, if a student were to write for the Web, the audience and purpose become real. In becoming participants in the formation of community knowledge, writers find worth in their ideas. They experience the power of language in a genuine way.
Students also discover self worth through collaborative approaches to writing.
Through this means of collaborative review, students also discover an audience beyond the instructor. Through collaboration and through analyzing Web sites, student writers also become more aware of the rhetorical structure of an argument. Consequently, by the end of the semester these students were able to talk about structure in ways more meaningful than any other group of students I've taught. It spawns new topics. And it produces a good class dynamic.