Effects of minimum word counts on writing tasks

Author

Steven O'Brien, Kean University
Verneda P. Hamm Baugh, Kean University

Periodical Title

Modern Psychological Studies

Volume

19

Number

1

Page Numbers

pages 11-15

Department

Dept. of Psychology

Publisher

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Place of Publication

Chattanooga (Tenn.)

Date

2013

Abstract

The ability of students to successfully fulfill coursework requirements is an important topic in the fields of education as well as psychology. The present study was designed to examine the effects of placing a minimum word count on a writing task. The participants were asked to complete a writing prompt that may or may not have contained a minimum word count. The number of words written for both groups was then analyzed. The data from the two groups showed that there was a significant difference between the group who received a minimum word count and those who did not. The minimum word count group wrote more, which suggests that there may be a benefit to including specific word count requirements on this type of task. While the quality of the writing was not evaluated in this study, the results suggest that word count requirements may encourage more detail in some writing tasks.

Subject

Psychology

Discipline

Psychology

Document Type

article

DCMI Type

Text

Extent

6 leaves

Language

English

Call Number

BF1 .M63 v. 19 no. 1 2013

Rights

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Recommended Citation

O'Brien, Steven and Hamm Baugh, Verneda P. (2013) "Effects of minimum word counts on writing tasks," Modern Psychological Studies: Vol. 19: No. 1, Article 3.
Available at: https://scholar.utc.edu/mps/vol19/iss1/3