Figure 1.

The setup of the written note paradigm. Figure 1 depicts the skill-building writing assignment that 7th grade students were asked to complete, with randomly assigned appended note (i.e., the purposeful affordance manipulation) from teacher; the 8th grade assignment was parallel but called for an analysis of a poem. Grade level did not moderate the effects and, as such, we do not think the specific topic of the writing assignment affected the results.