Lexical analysis of student research drafts in computing

ABSTRACT Lexical Richness is a competence that students acquire while advancing in education. This article presents results analyzing lexical richness of drafts of students, in terms of lexical density, variety, and sophistication. A computational model allows reviewing some essential elements in drafts. Results show that there exists a difference in lexical richness between graduate and undergraduate texts, and that sophistication is the measure that best differentiates them. We also report results of a pilot test. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Comput Appl Eng Educ 23:638–644, 2015; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/cae ; DOI 10.1002/cae.21638