NAEP - Writing 2007: Types of Writing

Types of writing performed for school

As part of the 2007 writing assessment, eighth-graders were asked about the types of writing they did for school. The question and the percentage of students who responded within each category are below.

How often do you write each of the following for school this year?

Writing activity	Never or hardly ever	A few times a year	Once or twice a month	At least once a week
	Percentage of students
Thoughts or observations in a log or journal	38	18	17	27
A simple summary of something you have read	20	22	33	24
A report about something that you have studied or researched	11	34	44	11
An essay in which you analyze or interpret something	16	30	40	15
A letter or essay in which you try to convince or persuade others to believe or do something	18	37	33	11
A story (such as a story about a personal or imagined experience)	19	34	33	14
Business writing (such as a resume or letter to a company)	58	28	11	3

Check for Statistical Significance

To further analyze these data, test for significance between categories, or see corresponding average scores, view the complete data with standard errors in the NAEP Data Explorer. Click on "Find Out" to check for statistical significance. To learn about using the NAEP Data Explorer, view the NAEP Data Explorer tutorial.

Browse background questionnaires for the NAEP assessments.

As part of the 2007 writing assessment, twelfth-graders were asked about the types of writing they did for school. The question and the percentage of students who responded within each category are below.

How often do you write each of the following for school this year?

Writing activity	Never or hardly ever	A few times a year	Once or twice a month	At least once a week
	Percentage of students
Thoughts or observations in a log or journal	38	19	16	27
A simple summary of something you have read	16	23	33	28
A report about something that you have studied or researched	7	36	45	13
An essay in which you analyze or interpret something	7	25	44	23
A letter or essay in which you try to convince or persuade others to believe or do something	16	43	34	8
A story (such as a story about a personal or imagined experience)	24	41	26	9
Business writing (such as a resume or letter to a company)	39	42	15	4

Check for Statistical Significance

Browse background questionnaires for the NAEP assessments.

NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 2007 Writing Assessment.

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