In the 1980s, many scholars began using word processors in lieu of typewriters. Scholars vary in the extent to which they start a manuscript by composing on keyboards or develop notes, outline or even a first full draft in longhand. Today, virtually all scholarly manuscripts exist, in part, in electronic form in a scholar's office. Pictures and diagrams are least often in electronic form, and the frequency of pictures and diagrams in a book or article varies a lot by discipline and subfield. Even when scholars prepare papers and books in electronic form, they commonly print intermediate drafts for their own review and revision.
Most scholars find it much easier to annotate paper manuscripts than electronic drafts.
In contrast, electronic documents can be more rapidly searched for keywords and radically restructured. These complementary properties of paper and electronic documents also influence readers as well as authors. But in our research, they universally report preferring print manuscripts for serious reading and annotation. Collaborating co-authors may prefer paper formats for reading and electronic documents to facilitate revision. We suspect that scholars in diverse fields will continue to write and revise their manuscripts while shifting back and forth between paper notes, electronic documents, and printed drafts read and marked for revisions.