Write Ahead is based on over 50 years of research into effective writing instruction. The recent study Writing Next outlined 11 effective strategies for teaching writing. Write Ahead employs them all:
- Strategies for planning, revising, and editing
- Summary writing
- Collaborative writing
- Specific writing goals
- Word processing
- Sentence combining
- Prewriting
- Inquiry activities
- Process writing approach
- Study of models
- Writing for content learning
For a more in-depth look at the research underpinnings of the Write Ahead handbook, see the following resources.
Atwell, Nancie. In the Middle: New Understandings About Writing, Reading, and Learning. Heinemann, 1998.
Caplan, Rebekah. Writers in Training: A Guide to Developing a Composition Program. Dale Seymour Publications, 1984.
Collins, James L. Strategies for Struggling Writers. Guildford Press, 1993.
Elbow. Peter. Writing with Power: Techniques for Mastering the Writing Process. 2nd ed., Oxford University Press, 1998.
---. Writing Without Teachers. 2nd ed., Oxford University Press, 1998.
Fulwiler, Toby, and Young Art. Language Connections: Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum. National Council of Teachers of English, 1982.
Gallagher, Kelly. Teaching Adolescent Writers. Stenhouse Publishers, 2006.
---. Write Like This: Teaching Real-World Writing Through Modeling & Mentor Texts. Stenhouse Publishers, 2011.
Graham, S., & Perin, D. Writing Next: Effective Strategies to Improve Writing of Adolescents in Middle and High Schools. Alliance for Excellent Education, 2007.
Graves, Donald H. Writing: Teachers & Children at Work. Heinemann, 2003.
Heard, Georgia. The Revision Toolbox: Teaching Techniques that Work. Heinemann, 2014.
Kittle, Penny. Write Beside Them: Risk, Voice, and Clarity in High School Writing. Heinemann, 2008.
Moffett, James. Teaching the Universe of Discourse. Boyton/Cook, 1987.
Murray, Donald M. The Essential Don Murray: Lessons from America's Greatest Writing Teacher. Edited by Thomas Newkirk and Lisa C. Miller, Boynton/Cook Publishers, Inc., 2009.
---. Learning by Teaching. Boyton/Cook Heinemann, 1982.
Newkirk, Thomas. Minds Made for Stories: How We Really Read and Write Informational and Persuasive Texts. Heinemann, 2014.
Romano, Tom. Clearing the Way: Working with Teenage Writers. Heinemann, 1987.
Smith, Frank. Writing and the Writer. 2nd ed, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Publishers, 1994.
Spandel, Vicki. Creating Writers: Through 6-Trait Writing Assessment and Instruction. Pearson/AB Longman, 2008.