XMM-Newton observations of seven QSOs are presented and the EPIC spectra analysed .
Five of the AGN show evidence for Fe K \alpha emission , with three being slightly better fitted by lines of finite width ; at the 99 per cent level they are consistent with being intrinsically narrow , though .
The broad-band spectra can be well modelled by a combination of different temperature blackbodies with a power-law , with temperatures between kT \sim 100–300 eV .
On the whole , these temperatures are too high to be direct thermal emission from the accretion disc , so a Comptonization model was used as a more physical parametrization .
The Comptonizing electron population forms the soft excess emission , with an electron temperature of \sim 120–680 eV .
Power-law , thermal plasma and disc blackbody models were also fitted to the soft X-ray excess .
Of the sample , four of the AGN are radio-quiet and three radio-loud .
The radio-quiet QSOs may have slightly stronger soft excesses , although the electron temperatures cover the same range for both groups .