The Effect of Word Processing on the Quality of Basic Writers’ Revisions

This study investigated the effects of word processing on the quality of revision of 102 college basic writers. Three teachers' fall and spring classes were examined. In the fall semester, all three teachers operated under comparable conditions (using computers in class once every two weeks). In the spring semester, however, these three teachers' classes were divided into two experimental groups that used computers and one control group that did not. The first and final drafts of an assigned paragraph for all six groups were judged by trained raters blind to experimental conditions. A set of planned comparisons revealed no significant difference in the three groups' quality of revisions in the fall and a significant difference in the quality of revisions between the experimental and control groups in the spring. The results indicated that word processing does have a positive effect on the quality of revision in basic writers. The purpose of this study was to discover whether basic writers revised more successfully with a word processor than with pen and paper. Relatively little of the research conducted on the effect of the word processor on revision has involved either the basic writer or the overall quality of revisions. Most of the research has involved very young writers or able writers (either professionals or successful college writers). Moreover, that research has focused mostly on attitudes and kinds of revision rather than on quality of revision.