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Advances in Corpus-based Research on Academic Writing: Effects of discipline, register, and writer expertise
Edited by Ute Römer-Barron, Viviana Cortes and Eric Friginal
[Studies in Corpus Linguistics 95] 2020
► pp. 89–114

The influence of sources on First-Year Composition L1 student writing

A multi-dimensional analysis

| Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Writing from sources is a necessity for academic writing, but it is especially challenging for First-Year Composition (FYC) writers (Horning & Kraemer 2013; Serviss & Jamieson 2017). Yet, few studies have empirically investigated the source-based language use features of FYC writers. For this study, English as a first language (L1) FYC students (N = 232) wrote in-class essays using two source readings. A multi-dimensional analysis on 13 linguistic features associated with the presence or absence of source use (e.g., reporting verbs, titles and authors, personal pronouns) was conducted, resulting in three dimensions, (1) Source-Based Concept Density vs. Prompt-Based Freewriting, (2) Impersonal Extension of Source-Based Concepts, and (3) Source Text Deixis. Implications of these dimensions for source-based student writing are discussed.

Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Literature review
  • 3.Method
    • 3.1Participants and setting
    • 3.2Instruments and materials
    • 3.3Procedures
    • 3.4Analysis
      • 3.4.1Variables
      • 3.4.2Statistical and functional analyses
  • 4.Results and discussion
    • 4.1Dimension 1: Source-based concept density vs. Prompt-based freewriting
    • 4.2Dimension 2: Impersonal extension of source-based concepts
    • 4.3Dimension 3: Source text deixis
  • 5.General discussion
  • 6.Limitations
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Note
  • References
  • Appendix
Published online: 20 February 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/scl.95.04doo
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Doolan, Stephen M.
2023. Source-Based L1 Student Writing Development: Analyzing the Relationships Among Functional Dimensions of Source Use and the Quality of Source Use. Written Communication 40:2 ► pp. 720 ff. DOI logo
Goulart, Larissa & Margaret Wood
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