The impact of word processing on the preparation and submission of written essays in a tertiary course of study

This study investigated whether the use of word processing in the creation and submission of written essays by tertiary students, resulted in the achievement of higher grades compared with conventional methods. The study was conducted among 240 student teachers in the first year of a degree course and studying a pre-service unit in teacher education. Students' marks in an essay were gathered along with details of the submission method used; word processed, typed or hand-written. Initial statistical tests showed that students who used word processing as a method for essay submission scored significantly higher essay marks that students whose essays were typed or hand-written. Further tests, however, revealed than it was the level of revision carried out rather than the submission method that accounted for the differences in achieved scores.