This report outlines findings that relate to writing, taken from the third annual literacy survey, which was conducted in November/December 2012. 34,910 young people aged 8 to 16 participated. Key findings include: (1) 44.1% of children and young people enjoy writing either "very much" or "quite a lot"; 14.8% of children and young people do not enjoy writing at all (see Table 6, p. 19); (2) 86.7% of children and young people rate themselves as either average (58.2%) or very good writers (28.5%) (see Table 7, p. 20); (3) 26.7% of children and young people write outside of class every day, with another 28.9% writing something a few times a week. However, 25.7% of children and young people say that they rarely or never write outside of class (see Table 8, p. 21); (4) Technology-based formats, such as text messages (72.4%) and messages on social networking sites (52.3%) are most commonly written outside of class by a large margin, followed by emails (46.5%) and instant messages (45.2%). Notes (33.2%) and lyrics (26.9%) are the most frequently written non-technology formats (see Table 9, p. 22); and (5) Most children and young people thought positively about writing (see Tables 10.1 to 10.11, pp. 25-37). 77.8% agree that "the more I write, the better my writing gets"; 75.7% agree that "writing is more fun when you can choose the topic"; 60.3% agree that "a pupil who writes well gets better marks"; 55.8% agree that "if I am good at writing, I'll get a better job". 31.0% of children and young people also agree that "writing is cool". However, 53.7% agree that "it is easier to read than it is to write" and 48.2% agree that "I have trouble deciding what to write". A quarter of children and young people (26.2%) agree that "if you can use a spellchecker there is no point in learning spelling and grammar. Gender stereotypes are also relatively prevalent when it comes to writing, with 28.6% agreeing that "girls tend to enjoy writing more than boys". 16.1% of children and young people agree that "I would be embarrassed if friends saw me write". The following are appended: (1) An introduction to the annual literacy survey; (2) Methodology; and (3) Sample characteristics .