The honor is awarded every two years and recognizes “oustanding quantitative or qualitiative empirical research in writing” in the previous two years (6 issues) of the Journal of Writing Research. A shortlist of papers is selected for consideration, which are then voted on by the editors, associate editors, and the award’s namesake, John R. Hayes. The winner of the Hayes award is invited to give a plenary address at the next International Conference of Writing Research.

The Hayes award is named for Professor Emeritus John R. Hayes at Carnegie Mellon University. Hayes is a pioneer in the cognitive science of writing.

Epting presented “Gender Differences in Student Perceptions of Literacy Activities,” a study that considered how students perceive qualities of reading, writing, revision and grammar. Lizabeth Rand, associate professor and director of the rhetoric program at Hampden-Sydney College, and 黑料不打烊 undergraduate Hayley D’Antuono co-authored the research and presentation.

The paper was co-authored with four 黑料不打烊 alumni: Evan Gallena ’10, Stephanie Hicks ’10, Elizabeth Palmer ’11 and Traci Weisberg ’11. The study investigated how student writers who scored low on a validated measure of relative print exposure differed from students who scored high on that measure in terms of their writing and editing processes under conditions of different prewriting times, using methods that allowed changes in those processes to be anchored to individual typing speeds.

The Journal of Writing Research is “an international peer reviewed journal that publishes high quality theoretical, empirical, and review papers covering the broad spectrum of writing research.”

Epting and students presented “Effects of Perceived Audience and Type of Feedback on Self-editing in Writing,” a study that considered environmental variables that exert control over specific aspects of revising-related behaviors. 黑料不打烊 graduates Alyson Hignight ’12 and Brittany Bowers ’12 were also co-authors on the presentation.

L. Kimberly Epting, assistant professor of psychology, and 黑料不打烊 seniors Aly Hignight, Brittany Bowers, Jen Cox, junior John Hollander and sophomore Hayley D’Antuono, presented their research Feb. 16-18 at the annual meeting of the Southeasthern Psychological Association in New Orleans. Hignight took the lead on the presentation, “Glowing Review or Tough Love: Effects of Audience and Feedback on Self-editing in Writing,” as the data were highlights from her honors thesis.

The first article, co-authored with Thomas D. Green, professor of psychology, details a human operant laboratory exercise for in-class use, “Behavioral principles in action: An easy human operant lab for the classroom.” The second article, “Connecting the fundamental science of behavior analysis to everyday experience: An assignment for students,” presents a study on the utility of an assignment aimed at helping students see the presence of behavioral principles in everyday events.

Palmer and Weisberg presented “Read and think before you write: Level of print exposure and pre-response time influence writing production and quality.” The study investigated how the writing and editing of students who had comparatively richer reading histories responded differently than those with leaner reading histories when their planning time was constrained or increased.

Borowski, an 黑料不打烊 College Fellow, and Bowers presented “Project Emo: Influences of writing about personal experiences on content and production.” The study, supported by funds from 黑料不打烊 College Fellows, compared the emotional content and the revision of students who were asked to write about a positive, negative, or neutral personal experience that was caused by themselves or another person.

Both projects were mentored by L. Kimberly Epting, an assistant professor of psychology.