From a research paper by Yu-mei Wang "E-Mail Dialogue Journaling in an ESL Reading and Writing Classroom" (1996)  

"This case study involved designing an electronic-based environment to explore the effectiveness of e-mail as a writing tool for dialogue journaling. In what ways were e-mail journals different from paper journals?  Comparison of e-mail journals and paper journals reveals that e-mail created a different writing style than that of paper and pencil.  For example, in the journal entries, participants in the e-mail group tended to: (1) use formula functions like opening and closing greetings (none of the students in the paper group used any); (2) use more requesting functions (asking questions) than those in the paper group; and (3) produce more language functions per writing session.  In addition, e-mail communication was more spontaneous than paper dialogue."