A Comparative Study of Writing Quality in Online and Conventional Writing

Abstract

This study explored the differences which exist between online writing and conventional pen-and-paper writing with regard to writing quality. To this end, the traditional in-class compositions of 30 university students majoring in English and their online compositions in the online forum specifically designed for the purpose of this study were gathered and compared. The texts were scored based on Vicki Spandel’s Six Traits Paragraph Writing Rubric (2009). The six traits under study were idea, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, and conventions. Data was analyzed through pated-samples t-test. Results revealed that conventional and online writing are different mostly with regard to organization, word choice and writing conventions.