Where from, who, why and how? A study of the use of sources by first year L2 university students (original) (raw)
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A comparison of published statements about the source-use skills of sophomores in the 1990s and those revealed by the more recent Citation Project study of researched writing suggests that many of the assumptions driving pedagogy, policy, and curricula need to be revised and that faculty working across the disciplines should work with students on reading and source-use skills when they assign researched writing. The Citation Project studied research papers by 174 first-year students at 16 US colleges and universities, producing a data-based portrait of student reading and source-use skills. Those students work from one or two sentences in 94% of their citations, cite the first or second page of their sources 70% of the time, and cite only 24% of their sources more than twice. While 78% of the papers include at least one incidence of paraphrase, 52% include at least one incidence of patchwriting, with students moving back and forth between the two within the same paragraph. Like earl...
A comparison of published statements about the source-use skills of sophomores in the 1990s and those revealed by the more recent Citation Project study of researched writing suggests that many of the assumptions driving pedagogy, policy, and curricula need to be revised and that faculty working across the disciplines should work with students on reading and source-use skills when they assign researched writing. The Citation Project studied research papers by 174 first-year students at 16 US colleges and universities, producing a data-based portrait of student reading and source-use skills. Those students work from one or two sentences in 94% of their citations, cite the first or second page of their sources 70% of the time, and cite only 24% of their sources more than twice. While 78% of the papers include at least one incidence of paraphrase, 52% include at least one incidence of patchwriting, with students moving back and forth between the two within the same paragraph. Like earl...
A preliminary assessment of Google Scholar as a source of EAP students'research materials
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While the use of a search engine to find secondary sources is now a commonplace practice among undergraduate writers, recent studies show that students' online searches often lead to materials that are wholly or partially unsuitable for academic purposes. Accordingly, this project set out to determine whether using a more specialized search engine, Google Scholar, would lead to qualitative differences in the sources selected by second-language (L2) students working on a research-based assignment in a firstyear English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course. The participants in this study (N = 27) were required to submit an annotated bibliography consisting of ten sources, sought from print or electronic media, on their research topic. Students were required to indicate how these sources were located (e.g., Google, Google Scholar, the university library's catalogue of electronic resources, or a traditional search for print materials). Three independent raters, who were not given any information on the search mechanisms used, evaluated each electronic source (N = 72) using WATCH, an analytic website assessment scale, . Evaluating Web sources in an EAP course: Introducing a multi-trait instrument for feedback and assessment. English for specific Purposes, 25(4) 438-455.]. Mann-Whitney comparisons revealed no significant differences between sources obtained through Google Scholar and the university library's catalogue of electronic resources (p set at ≤ 0.05). On the other hand, there were significant differences between Google Scholar and Google sources, as well as between electronic sources obtained through the library and Google, in key areas such as academic rigor and objectivity.
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Source-based writing is replete with decisions about what to include from others' work and how to include it. The processes of source selection and source integration are integral yet occluded aspects of writing from sources (Pecorari, 2006). Issues pertaining to appropriate versus inappropriate source use have been among the controversial topics of discussion among university students and instructors (e.g., as noted in Harwood & Petrić, 2011, and Shi, 2016), yet current scholarship is still in need of an explicit understanding of the process of source-based writing-in particular, among graduate-level students as emerging scholars in their fields. In light of such exigency and to better understand the source-based writing practices of student writers at graduate levels, my doctoral research project aimed at exploring the processes of source selection and source integration in the research-paper writing of eight domestic and international Master's and PhD students in the field of education at a major Canadian university. Data included drafts of research papers students prepared as part of their course requirements, related source texts, three rounds of text-based interviews with students, and individual text-based interviews with their course instructors. Employing a socio-pedagogical approach by interweaving the conceptual frameworks of Community of Practice (Lave & Wenger, 1991), Forms of Capital (Bourdieu, 1991), and Dialogism (Bakhtin, 1986), this study provided the ground to cross-examine not only each participant's writing progress over multiple drafts, but also to compare the practices of the Master's and doctoral participants as they strived to join the expert dialogues in their communities through collecting acceptable forms of textual capital. iv Macro analyses of data depicted perspectives of participating graduate students toward source-based writing, their dilemmas and solutions in the process of source use, contributing factors to their problematic and/or successful source-use practices, and available support to them. Micro analyses of these Master's and doctoral students' written texts and oral accounts identified a wide range of motivations for source selection and purposes for the use of various types of source integration in their research-paper writing. This study offers insights for institutional and educational action plans to support students' interactions with source texts. v Lay Summary Graduate students in general need to write research papers that incorporate information previously written by other experts. Some research has been done in this area, but not much research has explored how graduate students from different educational backgrounds and at different academic levels incorporate expert information into their course paper drafts, and how their instructors evaluate them in this process. This doctoral research project contributes to the gap by (a) interviewing local and international Master's and PhD students and their instructors about how these graduate students paraphrased, summarized, and directly quoted source texts, and (b) analyzing multiple drafts of their course papers. Findings show (a) that students chose and used expert materials differently in their papers and the differences were mainly related to their academic levels, and (b) that instructors played a significant role in students' process of research writing by supporting and providing feedback on their source-use practices.
Malaysian Undergraduates’ (In)ability to Identify the Correct Use of Sources
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Studies conducted in the West show that one of the reasons students plagia- rize is because of their poor understanding of the correct use of sources. This paper reports on a small-scale study which assessed whether Malay- sian law matriculation students could identify the correct use of sources. Findings show that 66% of the respondents did not know that quoting with- out using quotation marks was an example of the incorrect use of a source although the source was acknowledged. Similarly, 66% also felt that a source was correctly used although it was poorly paraphrased with only slight modification as long as the source was cited. The results indicate that these Malaysian undergraduates have a poor understanding about the proper use of sources and may inadvertently be committing plagiarism.
'According to . . . ': Analysing learner development of referencing and evidence integration
The conversation regarding referencing often focuses on punitive measures to respond to plagiarism rather than developing appropriate citation practices. Students are required to reference established scholars; however, as learners developing their 'academic voice', many struggle to effectively synthesise the evidence into their arguments. The aim of this study is to investigate how students in an undergraduate academic communication unit integrate evidence using various voice markers (i.e., direct, indirect and external). Using both quantitative and qualitative analyses, this study examines 16 English as a first language (L1) and English as an additional language (EAL) learners' texts to identify the voice types on which students rely. The findings reveal little variation between the referencing practices of the L1 and EAL students. Furthermore, problematic patterns of deployment were identified with each voice type (e.g., 'drop in' quotes, 'tag on' citations) and overall, students demonstrated limited proficiency in their ability to effectively synthesise the evidence to develop their authorial stance. The paper concludes with pedagogical recommendations regarding the role of referencing as an epistemological construction rather than a punitive measure.
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In a follow-up to a pilot study published in 2019, the authors collected student research papers from English Composition II courses at three public comprehensive universities from different regions in the United States to classify and compare the sources selected by students at each institution. Working with a representative sample of 712 bibliographic references, the authors used a research-tested taxonomy called The WHY Method to classify each source by three key attributes—Who wrote each source, How it was edited, and whY it was published. The results of this cross-institutional study indicate that student source selection is affected most powerfully by the variables of which institution a student attends, student age, and whether the student is a first-generation university student. Student GPA, gender, class ranking (freshman, sophomore, and so on), and ethnicity were not statistically predictive factors. This study establishes the importance of institutional context in how st...
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The role of English as the major language in the world has been impacting language policy in non-English speaking countries, including policy on scientific publication. Scholars are urged to access English sources. This study aimed to qualitatively explore Islamic economic students’ perceptions about referencing their academic works with sources written in English. The data were obtained through interviewing the students and were analyzed descriptively. The majority of students did not refer to English-written sources. There are several factors which limit them in doing so, despite its importance and even though most of the participants have access to the sources.
Students’ Sourcing While Reading and Writing From Multiple Web Documents
This study focuses on how and to what degree undergraduates attend to source information while reading a set of partly contradicting web documents on a social-scientific issue, and on how students use those sources in writing an essay based on the documents. Think-aloud data collected during the reading session showed that students to some degree pay attention to both source information about the documents and to information about sources embedded in the documents' content. Sourcing of an evaluative nature occurred most frequently while students read documents holding strong opinions on the issue. In the essays, students most frequently cited the source assumed to be most trustworthy. Students' explicit online sourcing while reading was significantly related to their explicit references to the web documents in the essays. The results from the study are in accordance with prior studies in indicating that undergraduates need more training in sourcing skills.