The purpose of this research was to determine whether computer-aided instruction may be effectively utilized in stimulating prewriting composition when the CAI is based upon (1) conceptual (cognitive) strategies, (2) “data-driven” guidance (resulting from CAE techniques), and (3) recent findings in tutorial strategies research. If this specifically designed CAI is as good a means of prewriting instruction as personal tutoring and a better means than classroom instruction, then the practical and economical implications may be weighed in a decision to use such techniques. Forty-three college freshmen in three basic writing classes participated in this study. One class was exposed to a CAI medium, the other two either to a human tutor or to classroom instruction. A computer-aided evaluation of previous essays provided focus, and other intellectual processing cues provided information on an expository topic; this “database” was then used to construct a CAI program to encourage “specificity” and “depth of intellectual processing“ in students' prewriting composition. The program also possessed and was designed to provide “conceptual guidance” through the use of five heuristic procedures; thus it contained two key elements that a human tutor would possess in working with a topic—knowledge of the topic, and a means for eliciting that knowledge from the tutee. The second treatment method used consisted of instruction by human tutors, utilizing the same methodology. The control for the study consisted of a classroom instruction group. Results showed the CAI group demonstrating gains in every category of measurement utilized in this study, and its performances was significantly better than both the tutorial group on two of the post-test measures. The CAI group was superior, through not significantly, on post-test performances in every category used in the study except fluency.