Studies Explore Whether the Internet Makes Students Better Writers

"The rise of online media has helped raise a new generation of college students who write far more, and in more-diverse forms, than their predecessors did. But the implications of the shift are hotly debated, both for the future of students' writing and for the college curriculum. . .A new generation of longitudinal studies, which track large numbers of students over several years, is attempting to settle this argument. The 'Stanford Study of Writing,' a five-year study of the writing lives of Stanford students — including Mr. Otuteye — is probably the most extensive to date. . ."