The present article explores and evaluates a method that makes use of mobile technologies as tools in combination with process logs to study writing (the Mobile Technologies combined with Process Logs (MTPL) method). New and changing ways for doing writing as well as limitations with the methods already in use in writing research grounds for new approaches for studying this practice. This article evaluates how the MTPL method can contribute to writing research as well as what process-oriented knowledge could be gained. Possible risks with using the approach are also outlined. The MTPL method is evaluated in relation to some challenges set up for writing research. The method should be able to capture the in situ participants' view on improvisational times, locations, and activities as well as their view on other people as resources or disturbance. It should also be able to address longitudinal aspects of writing and the material as well as the digital artifact use. The MTPL method is mostly shown to address all of the challenges set up for evaluation. One of the main contributions shown with the method is that it opens up for multimodal reporting in situ, where photos of workplaces in an actual writing process are one such example. There are however some risks, the main one being the uncertain ethical implications of new digital technology. In spite of such risk, the MTPL method is seen as a promising tool that should be used and developed further to gain new insights into writing research.

This study explores the use of digital technologies in the writing of an academic assignment. Fine-grained studies on student writing processes are scarce in previous research. In relation to the increasing demands on students’ writing, as well as the debate on students’ poor writing (Malmström, 2017), these issues are important to address. In this study, screen captures of five students’ essay processes are analyzed. The results show that students handle text at different levels: they make use of one or more word processors, arrange texts spatially on screens and use resources to operate directly in texts. Above all these actions seem to meet the need to move and navigate within one’s own text, an aspect that could be especially important in relation to the academic genre and for handling texts as artifacts in activity (Castelló & Iñesta, 2012; Prior, 2006). The results of the study point to the importance of making digital writing practices visible, especially those that could create possibilities to intertwine digital texts, thereby enhancing potentials for academic writing and meaning-making.