Trial Program Guide WRITING ABOUT READING (FICTION | NON-FICTION | PERIODICALS) Skill levels 8 - 12 Trial version: Level 1 (Skill level 8) Complete program: Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 Windows or MS-DOS (VGA display) OBJECTIVES This writing program helps students with reading levels of seven and up to write effective paragraphs based on something they have read. It teaches students to develop a paragraph using the techniques of Paragraph Punch. A step-by-step approach emphasizes content and organization. PROGRAM OVERVIEW To use Writing About Reading, students need to be able to write basic sentences on a word processor. The program guides the student through each step in writing a complete paragraph. Help messages are provided throughout. Students are encouraged by the program's graphic rewards, as well as by seeing their work develop and progress. Students may transfer their finished paragraphs to a commercial word processing program. SAVING AND DELETING STUDENT FILES Save and Exit is a save and resume feature available throughout the program. It allows students to save their work and return to it at another time. The program will quickly scroll the student's work and stop at the exact place s/he left off. Students who return to Publishing can go back to Editing. This version of Writing About Reading permits entry of only two student names. When a third name is entered, the first one will be deleted. The School version permits entry of as many names as disk space allows. Any student name that is not accessed for a month is automatically deleted. If you do not want students to save their writing, change the attributes of the file FILE to read only. Then the Save and Exit feature will be disabled and will not appear on the screen. To delete all student files, see Utility Program: Cleanup. KEYBOARD EDITING KEYS Keyboard editing keys, for use throughout the program: Insert (toggle key) = Thick cursor for insert/thin cursor for typeover Home = Move cursor to beginning of text End = Move cursor to end of text [Ctrl] right arrow key = Move cursor to next word [Ctrl] left arrow key = Move cursor to preceding word PROGRAM DESCRIPTION AND OPERATION General function keys: F1 Help = See help message F2 Topic = See topic chosen by the student F3 Pre-Writing = See Pre-Writing Notepad F4 Writing = See Writing Notepad F5 Add = Put another sentence in paragraph F6 Remove = Take a sentence from Paragraph Notepad and store it in the Writing Notepad F7 Move = Change order of sentences in paragraph F8 Edit = Make change or correction in sentence F9 Page Back = Go back for review or reference F10 Next page/End section = Done with task on screen [Shift] F10 Save & Exit = Save and resume feature saves work, which may be resumed at another time TOPIC: Students are given several themes and are asked to choose one as the focus of their paragraph. The students then enter the topic of their choice, which will be the topic of their paragraph. PRE-WRITING: A Pre-Writing Notepad appears on the screen. Using words or phrases, not sentences, students put their ideas about the theme they have chosen into the Pre-Writing Notepad. The computer provides a series of questions to help stimulate the student's thoughts. Students must enter at least four words or phrases about the topic, on separate lines, before the computer can proceed to the next section. Words and phrases for the Pre-Writing Notepad should be limited to about twelve lines. Each line may have up to 80 characters, and more than one idea may be put on a line. All the ideas listed do not have to be used. WRITING - TOPIC SENTENCE: The computer provides a sample topic sentence, plus an incomplete topic sentence for students to finish as an exercise. Students then write an original topic sentence to introduce their paragraph. WRITING - BODY: The Pre-Writing Notepad reappears at the beginning of thissection. Students may choose any line in the Pre-Writing Notepad as many times as they want. Before the program continues, however, they must choose at least four words or phrases and write something about each. These sentences are entered into the Writing Notepad. Students are also encouraged to write additional sentences to expand their paragraph. We suggest students enter no more than twelve sentences. Students have the opportunity to refer to the Pre-Writing Notepad throughout the Writing - Body section and the beginning of the next section. A long sentence may not appear completely on the screen in the Writing - Body section or in the first part of Organizing. The full sentence will appear in the Paragraph Draft, which first appears in the second part of Organizing. ORGANIZING: In the first step of this section, the Writing Notepad with the student's sentences appears on the upper half of the screen. An empty Paragraph Notepad box is on the lower screen. Students take sentences from the Writing Notepad and arrange them in the Paragraph Notepad, deciding which sentences to use and in which order. All the sentences do not have to be used, but at least three must be chosen for the computer to proceed. Students also have the chance to add new sentences to the Writing Notepad. Note that a red arrow next to a sentence in the Paragraph Notepad indicates there are additional sentences that do not appear on the screen. Students use Page Up or Page Down to scroll. In the second step of the Organizing section students see their work for the first time in paragraph form in the Paragraph Draft box. Complete sentences now appear in wrap style. Students have the opportunity to use the Add, Move, Remove, and Edit operations to modify their sentences. These operations will also be available in the Editing section. Changes are made directly within the Paragraph Notepad and are not entered onto the Writing Notepad. Updated changes will appear in the Paragraph Draft at the beginning of each successive part of the Editing and Proofreading sections. Students are encouraged here to add transitional words to help the sentences flow smoothly from one thought to the next. Before moving to the next section, students are asked, "Are you sure you want to leave this section?" At this point, students can page back to earlier screens within the Organizing section. WRITING - CONCLUSION: The computer provides a sample concluding sentence, plus an incomplete concluding sentence for students to finish as an exercise. Students then write an original concluding sentence to end their paragraph. EDITING: In Editing - Overview, the Paragraph Draft reappears for review. The computer asks the students to check their work and gives prompts to guide them in the use of the appropriate function key to rearrange, add, remove, or edit sentences. Subsections of Editing - Style, Sentence Structure, and Grammar - are designed to help students improve their paragraph. There are specific suggestions for improving style, correcting sentence structure, and reviewing basic grammar. Students may review any of the steps in the Editing and Proofreading sections by using Page Up and Page Down. PROOFREADING: This is the student's chance to review the paragraph before Publishing. Students are reminded about pitfalls in basic punctuation and spelling. PUBLISHING: Students see their Paragraph Draft and can save it, print it, or move it to a word processor. The publishing function keys are: F1 Help = See help message F2 Topic = See topic chosen by the student F3 Print = Print Paragraph Draft F4 Text Save = Save Paragraph Draft for word processor only F5 Start Your Word Processor = Accesses your word processor and exits Writing About Reading F9 Back = Go back to Editing - Overview F10 Exit = Exit program [Shift] F10 Save and Exit = Save and resume feature saves Paragraph Draft, which may be returned to at another time, and exits program. This is not available for use after "Start Your Word Processor." F3 Print: Name and date appear at the beginning of the printout. To change the default printer assignment, access PRINTER.CFG on the Writing About Reading program, and change the contents of the ASCII file (currently PRN) to the device name of your choice. F4 Text Save: This key allows the student to move his/her Paragraph Draft to a word processor after exiting the program. It creates a file in a word processor format. The student must enter a standard DOS file name. A file name can have no more than eight characters, which may be followed by a period and a three-character extension. Sample: A:BARRY.TXT or A:BARRY Note: the file name can contain the full DOS drive and path name. If you wish students to save their paragraphs to a floppy disk, they should enter the drive followed by a file name. Sample: A:DORIS.TXT or A:DORIS 1. Generic Text Saving Option: This option is for word processing programs that can import TXT files. If you are uncertain of your word processing program, try this option first. Most word processing programs accept the generic format, which places a carriage return and a line feed character (ASCII codes 13,10) at the end of every line. This is also referred to as the Standard ASCII format. This format can be sent directly to most non-PostScript printers with the DOS command: COPY file LPT1 2. Commercial Word Processing Programs Text Saving Option: Use this format if your imported text comes in double spaced. A carriage return and a line feed character (ASCII codes 13,10) are appended only at the end of the paragraph. F5 Start Your Word Processor: This key provides automatic access to a word processor. If the student has not used Text Save, the program will ask for the Text Save information before automatically accessing the word processor. If you need to change the default word processor assignment, access WP.CFG and change the ASCII file (currently DEMOWP) to the path and file name of your word processor. For example, C:\DOS\EDIT. If you do not want students to access a word processor, delete WP.CFG and the F5 Start Your Word Processor key will not appear on the screen. CONFIGURATION FILES PRINTER.CFG = Printer configuration. You may change the contents of the ASCII file (currently PRN) to the device name of your choice. WP.CFG = Word processor configuration. If you need to change the default word processor assignment, access WP.CFG and change the ASCII file (currently DEMOWP) to the path and file name of your word processor. For example, C:\DOS\EDIT. If you do not want students to access a word processor, delete WP.CFG and the F5 Start Your Word Processor key will not appear on the screen. DIRECTOR.CFG = Lets you define where Writing About Reading stores the students' data. This is a plain ASCII file that most editors can edit and save (as an ASCII file). There are three basic ways to configure Writing About Reading DIRECTOR.CFG. CURRENT (default for single user) ENVIRONMENT (default for network) user defined CURRENT: With this word as the first line in DIRECTOR.CFG, Writing About Reading will store its files in the directory where it was installed. ENVIRONMENT: With this word as the first line in DIRECTOR.CFG, Writing About Reading uses three environment variables that can be modified by the DOS set command (see your DOS manual for more information on the set command). These variables are automatically maintained by I-CLAS, but for generic networks you can set them up as follows: HV (home volume, or drive) G (students' parent directory) D (students' directory) Sample setting of master environment: SET HV=sys: SET G=students Sample setting of the students' login batch: SET D=student_._ _ Writing About Reading will then assemble these variables to the path sys:\students\student_._ _ \ and keep its working files there. user defined: Any other text as the first line of DIRECTOR.CFG will be used as the Writing About Reading working directory. Sample: C:\working DELETING STUDENT WORK: Students' texts will automatically be deleted if they are not accessed for ninety days. CLEANUP can be used to remove the students' texts if they have been stored in the current directory. copyright 1993-1996 Merit Audio Visual All rights reserved GTDR ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- We hope you enjoy using this trial version of WRITING ABOUT READING. The complete program contains the following: Three levels, each containing three topics based on a variety of reading material, from books to periodicals A theme editor that permits you to create additional themes A program guide that contains teaching suggestions SCHOOL VERSIONS permit entry of as many student names as disk space allows. Merit Audio Visual offers a full range of educational software for writing, reading, grammar, vocabulary, ESL, and math. Merit also offers networking for Novell and other LAN, and licensing. School or Institutional Purchase Orders accepted. We will be happy to answer any questions you might have. MERIT AUDIO VISUAL (800) 753-6488 (212) 675-8567 FAX: (212) 675-8607 Call us Monday through Friday between 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM Eastern time. Or write MERIT AUDIO VISUAL, 132 W. 21 Street, New York, NY 10011 for free software catalog. This program is produced by a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the shareware principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting the member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does not provide technical support for members' products. Please write to the ASP Ombudsman at 545 Grover Road, Muskegon, MI 49442-9427 USA, FAX 616-788-2765 or send a Compuserve message via CompuServe Mail to ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536.