In recent years it has become common that students work on texts on the screen and on the screen only – even with larger chunks of texts such as PhD theses and master theses. This has definite advantages, but also disadvantages. The screen facilitates corrections as you read, i.e., mixing the author and the reader perspective whereas paper constrains the reader to the reader perspective [which is annoying but useful]. Until recently, my calls to my students to print the text and read them on paper – not least when when handing in comes nearer – have largely been sucessful. But no so lately – the texts stay in the computers. The implication is that flow, consistency, cohesion, and transitions suffer in the students’ reports. And he students’ idea of the nature of the task the examiners face (to evaluate their work based solely on a paper report) is more than vague.
