Hypothesizing that students choosing their own topics would produce significantly more writing, a study examined the writing sample length of 42 sixth grade students who had been divided equally into two treatment groups. Treatments were counterbalanced so that during the first writing period students in one group wrote on topics they had selected themselves while those in the other group wrote on topics that the teacher had assigned. A week later, following a period without writing instruction, the treatments were reversed. Data analysis showed a significant difference in length of writing sample favoring students who selected their own topics. (HOD)