Computer words: less perfect?

Article Abstract:

Writers using word processors may employ less care and thought than those using traditional methods because of the ease with which work can be composed on computer systems. Some educators feel that the increased facility for editing and reorganization available through word processors and the automatic checking of spelling and grammar may encourage less painstaking writing. In 1990, university teacher Marcia Peoples Halio reported that students in English classes using MS-DOS-based microcomputers wrote better essays than those in classes using Apple Macintoshes. The Apple Macintosh students chose more trivial subjects, were more sloppy with grammar, punctuation and spelling and composed sentences that were shorter and less complex. Presuming that each group of students had equal skills, she attributed this to the then-great difference between the point-and-click, graphical environment of the Macintosh and the typewriter style of DOS text systems. In the absence of further studies, and with more similarity between computer systems, the emphasis has moved whether computers in general encourage poor writing or whether the greater audience available through networks is a spur to creativity.

Column, Surveys, Education, Technological innovations, Literacy, Language arts, Word processing, Writing Skills, Accuracy, Reduction

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In the home office, equipment may still be deductible; computers, faxes and answering machines may meet I.R.S. requirements

Article Abstract:

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has ruled that home office space can be declared a tax deduction only if it is the place where the taxpayer's most important business is done and where most of her working day is spent. An IRS official, however, says that home office equipment can be deductible if the taxpayer can document the extent to which an equipment is used for business. If, through meticulous log-keeping, the home office worker is able to establish that the equipment is used for business 100 percent or close to it, the chances for IRS approval is greater than one in which the equipment is shared by other members of the household. The best way to guarantee the deductibility of office equipment is to buy them exclusively for the business and put them in a specific area in the house that is also used exclusively for the business.

Finance, taxation, & monetary policy, Laws, regulations and rules, Work environment, Tax policy, Home offices, United States. Internal Revenue Service, Office Equipment, Government Agency, Government Regulation, Tax Deduction, Work at Home

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