{"id":293,"date":"2026-05-07T10:28:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T10:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/wtsu\/?page_id=293"},"modified":"2026-05-07T13:28:27","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T13:28:27","slug":"resources","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/wtsu\/resources\/","title":{"rendered":"Resources"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Text Type Characterisation Tool<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>Variation in student writing<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <em>Text Type Characterisation Tool<\/em> (TTCT) describes a set of items designed to capture how student writing varies across different subjects and educational stages. The tool is divided into six sections, focussing on several key aspects of writing:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><strong>What the writing is doing<\/strong>. For example, does it describe, advise, or narrate? We aim to cover the range of communicative functions found in non-literary writing (e.g. essays, reports), rather than creative writing like stories or poems.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>What the writing is about. <\/strong>Instead of trying to list all possible topics, we identify distinctive types of content commonly found. We assume that most academic writing is about general or subject-specific topics, so the items in this section aim to capture texts that differ from this.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The sources a text draws on. <\/strong>For example, whether the text draws on research data or external texts.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The format or medium. <\/strong>For example, a letter or a diary entry, when the format differs from a standard academic text. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Who the writing is for. <\/strong>This covers the participants implied in a text and the relationships between them, including the level or formality and whether the tone is personal or professional. We assume typical student-teacher or general academic audience is the default and aim to capture cases that differ from this.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>How we developed the items<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In developing the items in the TTCT, we aimed to ensure that they are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><strong>easy to understand<\/strong> (and understood similarly by different people)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>relevant across subjects and educational stages<\/strong> (e.g. key stage 2 through to undergraduate writing, applicable across a range of disciplines)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>used in meaningful ways<\/strong> (not always present or always absent)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>comprehensive<\/strong>, capturing as many differences in writing as possible<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>concise<\/strong>, using only as many items as necessary<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Our tool and list of items draws on academic research, exam board guidance, and dictionary definitions. Some familiar terms (such as <em>argue, analyse <\/em>or<em> explain<\/em>) are not included directly. This is because research and our own testing show that people often interpret these terms in very different ways. Instead, we aim to use clearer, more specific descriptions. For example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cStates a position or conclusion\u201d and \u201csupports it with evidence or examples\u201d capture key aspects of <em>argue<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;Gives reasons\u201d or \u201cshows how to do something\u201d capture aspects of <em>explain<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>This approach helps make the items more transparent and easier to apply consistently. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>What the tool does (and doesn&#8217;t) cover<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The tool is designed for use with <strong>non-literary academic writing<\/strong>. It is not currently intended to be applied to other literary forms of writing, such as stories, poems, or plays. This is because creative writing forms are likely to require a different and more complex set of items, and they are less common at higher levels of education (especially outside of subjects like English). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>Using the tool<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The tool has six sections:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Functions<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Focus<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Sources<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Extra-textual content<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Medium<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Participants<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Texts are scored against the items in each section. <em>Function<\/em>&nbsp;items are scored on a three-point scale of 0-2. The items in the remaining five sections are scored on a two-point scale of 0-1. At least one&nbsp;item&nbsp;in the <em>Functions<\/em> section&nbsp;must receive a score other than&nbsp;0. For other sections, all&nbsp;items can be scored as \u2018no\u2019,&nbsp;if&nbsp;appropriate.&nbsp;&nbsp;Many&nbsp;items overlap and are likely to co-occur.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Notes on the scoring for each section can be found in the table below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table has-small-font-size\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Functions<\/strong><\/td><td>0 = not present&nbsp;or does not form a substantial part of the text.&nbsp;<br>1 =&nbsp;substantially present. Forms a substantial part of the overall text but is not a primary function of the&nbsp;text as a whole.&nbsp;<br>2&nbsp;= centrally present. One of the main functions of the text&nbsp;(a text can have more than one central function).&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Focus<\/strong><\/td><td>0 = not part of the content&nbsp;or does not form a substantial part of the text.&nbsp;<br>1 =&nbsp;substantial part of the content&nbsp;or a central focus of the text.&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Sources<\/strong><\/td><td>0 = not present&nbsp;<br>1 = present&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Extra-textual content<\/strong>           <\/td><td>0 = not present&nbsp;<br>1 = present&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Medium<\/strong><\/td><td>0 = not this medium&nbsp;<br>1 = this medium&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Participants<\/strong><\/td><td>0 =&nbsp;does not&nbsp;show this relationship&nbsp;<br>1 =&nbsp;shows&nbsp;this relationship&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>View the tool<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can view the tool by scrolling through or downloading the pdf below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div data-wp-interactive=\"core\/file\" class=\"wp-block-file\"><object data-wp-bind--hidden=\"!state.hasPdfPreview\"  class=\"wp-block-file__embed\" data=\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/wtsu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/715\/2026\/05\/Text-Type-Characterisation-Tool-1.pdf\" type=\"application\/pdf\" style=\"width:100%;height:600px\" aria-label=\"Embed of Text-Type-Characterisation-Tool-1.\"><\/object><a id=\"wp-block-file--media-99ac8aed-36d1-4e9c-8ecc-ed785f11c009\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/wtsu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/715\/2026\/05\/Text-Type-Characterisation-Tool-1.pdf\">Text-Type-Characterisation-Tool-1<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/wtsu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/715\/2026\/05\/Text-Type-Characterisation-Tool-1.pdf\" class=\"wp-block-file__button wp-element-button\" download aria-describedby=\"wp-block-file--media-99ac8aed-36d1-4e9c-8ecc-ed785f11c009\">Download<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>If you would like to find out more about the tool or the project, please contact us at: <a href=\"mailto:WTSUproject@exeter.ac.uk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">WTSUproject@exeter.ac.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Text Type Characterisation Tool Variation in student writing The Text Type Characterisation Tool (TTCT) describes a set of items designed to capture how student writing varies across different subjects and educational stages. The tool is divided into six sections, focussing on several key aspects of writing: How we developed the items In developing the items [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2861,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Resources - Writing Tasks at School and University<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/wtsu\/resources\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Resources - Writing Tasks at School and University\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Text Type Characterisation Tool Variation in student writing The Text Type Characterisation Tool (TTCT) describes a set of items designed to capture how student writing varies across different subjects and educational stages. 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