Statement of Research Question

         Colleges across the country have responded over the years to the influx of insufficient

 writers in their incoming freshmen classes by adding a composition assessment and requiring 

students whose essays were not proficient to take composition classes in their first year. At the

 university where this research study was carried out, most  incoming freshmen, having written 

a qualifying essay, were required to take Composition 101, Writing Rhetorically and Composition

 102, Writing Rhetorically with Sources.  As an instructor of Composition 101, Writing 

Rhetorically, and a former high school English teacher, it has become apparent that even though

 my college students have been in school for many years, they are still inexperienced writers

 who have not engaged with enough frequency in the application of the strategies or processes

 that expert writers use when they write (Hayes & Flower, 1986).