An on-line, computerized, software-driven system provides writing assessment of submitted essays with instructional feedback. The feedback incorporates comments and prompts provided to the user which are generated in response to the assessment evaluation of written text. Skill level and developmental level comments, remarks and prompts on various genre specific domain areas are provided in a real-time mode or in a request response mode, as elected by the user. Assessment and scores are provided by machine methods driven by a software engine. All appropriate comments and prompts are generated to the user by analysis logic software operating on a database of genre specific, educationally acceptable comments and prompts.