Janet Emig

Janet Emig (born October 12, 1928 in Cincinnati, Ohio) was an American composition scholar. She is known for her groundbreaking 1971 study The Composing Process of Twelfth Graders (National Council of Teachers of English Research Report No. 13), which contributed to the development of the process theory of composition. Her article, "Writing as a Mode of Learning" is also frequently cited and anthologized by the Writing Across the Curriculum movement. The National Council of Teachers of English ELATE Janet Emig Award for research in English Education is named in her honor.

Works

"We Are Trying Conferences." English Journal 49 (April 1960): 223-28. "The Relation of Thought and Language Implicit in Some Early American Rhetoric and Composition Texts." Qualifying Paper. Harvard Graduate School of Education, 1963. Rpt. in Web of Meaning. "The Uses of the Unconscious in Composing." College Composition and Communication (February 1964): 6-11. Rpt. in Web of Meaning 46-53. Janet Emig, James T. Fleming, and Helen M. Popp, eds. Language and Learning. NY: Harcourt, Brace and World, 1966. "On Teaching Composition: Some Hypotheses as Definitions." Research in the Teaching of English 1 (1967): 127-35. "Language Learning and the Teaching Process." Elementary English 44 (Oct. 1967): 602-8,709. "The Origins of Rhetoric: A Developmental View." School Review (Sept. 1969): Rpt. in Web of Meaning 55-60. "Components of the Composing Process Among Twelfth-Grade Writers." Diss. Harvard, 1969. The Composing Processes of Twelfth Graders. Research Report No. 13. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English, 1971. "Children and Metaphor." Research in the Teaching of English (Fall 1972): Rpt. in Web of Meaning 99-108. "Hand, Eye, Brain: Some ‘Basics’ in the Writing Process." Research on Composing: Points of Departure. Ed. Charles Cooper and Lee Odell. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English, 1974. 59-71. Rpt. in Web of Meaning 110-21. "The Biology of Writing; Another View of the Process." The Writing Processes of Students. Ed. W. T. Petty and P. J. Finn. Buffalo: State U of New York, Department of Elementary and Remedial Education, 1975. 11-20. (With Robert P. Parker, Jr.). "Responding to Student Writing: Building a Theory of the Evaluating Process." Unpublished paper. 1976. "Writing as a Mode of Learning." College Composition and Communication 28 (1977): 122-28. Rpt. in Web of Meaning 123-31. "The Tacit Tradition: The Inevitability of a Multi-Disciplinary Approach to Writing Research." Reinventing the Rhetorical Tradition. Ed. Aviva Freedman and Ian Pringle. Ottawa: Canadian Council of Teachers of English, 1980. Rpt. in Web of Meaning 146-56. "Journal of a Pessimist: Prospects for Academic Women in the Eighties." Journal of Education 162 (Summer 1980): 50-56. "Inquiry Paradigms and Writing." College Composition and Communication (February 1981): Rpt. in Web of Meaning 159-70. Introduction. Four Worlds of Writing. By Janice Lauer, Gene Montague, Andrea Lunsford, and Janet Emig. NY: Harper and Row, 1981.1-15. 2nd ed. 1985.1-18. "Literacy and Freedom." Keynote Address. Conference on College Composition and Communication, San Francisco, March 1982. Rpt. in Web of Meaning 171-78. "Non-Magical Thinking: Presenting Writing Developmentally in Schools " Writing: The Nature, Development and Teaching of Written Communication. Vol. 2. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1982. Rpt. in Web of Meaning 135-44. "Writing, Composition, and Rhetoric." Encyclopedia of Educational Research. 5th ed. 1982.2021-35. The Web of Meaning: Essays on Writing Teaching Learning and Thinking. Upper Montclair, NJ: Boynton/Cook, 1983. (With June Birnbaum). "Case Study." Handbook of Research in the English/Language Arts. Ed. James Squire and Julie Jensen. NY: Macmillan, 1989.