Hello Carmsie. I suggest you use the Assignment module and have them add online text (ie they are typing directly into Moodle) They will have a record of their work in their assignment entry and you will be notified when they submit and you will have a record of all submissions from the assignment grading screen. If you combine this with Activity completion you can set the assignment to be marked as completed when they have submitted it.
Exactly what I needed to know! thanks so much, really appreciated