It is believed that maturing expository writing through the middle school years, may be the root of strong essay and research writing in later years. Strong personal or narrative writing in younger years, apparently does not relate to strong essay and research writing . One of the later organizational skills to develop is the use of outlines to plan out a writing exercise. Despite the opportunity, few high school students make notes prior to a written task. It may be college age before writers use effective outlines to plan writing before a pencil is brought to paper, or a key is pressed.
Planning seems to be a relatively late developing skill.
A strong relationship has been found between writing frequency and intellectual capacities. Organizational, critical thinking, logic and reasoning skills are fostered in writing exercises. These skills tend to pour over into other areas of intellectual functioning used in problem solving or creativity. Metalingustic awareness is the knowledge of the structures and rules of language, or the ability to think about and manipulate language. Demands on conscious awareness increase dramatically when children are learning to read and write.