Laurie Henrylhenry@lincolntech.comhenrylj@ucmail.uc.edu

DO COMMUNITY-COLLEGE STUDENTS USE MORE CREDIBLE

RESEARCH SOURCES IN ENGLISH COMPOSITION ESSAYS THAN

STUDENTS AT FOR-PROFIT COLLEGES?

http://blog.heartland.org/2013/05/you-can-lead-a-horse-to-water/

UC Blue Ash is the third-largest college (by enrollment) in the University of Cincinnati and the largest regional college campus in Ohio. Opened in 1967, the college is located in the northeastern corner of Hamilton County and serves residents of the Tristate area.

60 degree and certificate programs as well as programs preparing a student to transfer to a four-year school.

Cost for Associate’s Degree in Medical Assisting: $11,780.00 (+ books)

UC BLUE ASH

Lincoln College of Technology offers career training in Automotive, Health Sciences, Business and Information Technology, Skilled Trades, Spa and Cosmetology, and Culinary.

13,347 students among 38 campuses in 17 states.Cost for Associate’s Degree in Medical Assisting:

$30,648.00 (+ books)

LINCOLN COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY

Given similar English composition assignments and information-literacy instruction, will students at the for-profit school and the community college exhibit similar skill levels with the use sources in their research essays? Or will one group do a significantly better job of selecting sources, incorporating them into their essays, and citing them than the other?

RESEARCH QUESTION

Researchers (two English Composition instructors and two librarians) tracked citation patterns among 40 sections of English comp 1101 students at Georgia State University in 2005.

EVERYONE LIKES TO USE WEBSITES

0600

1200

BooksArticlesWebsites

(Barratt et al, 2009)

THE WORDS WE HATE TO HEAR:

“Mostly, I just picked whatever interested me. If they had a bias, I didn’t really care. I just picked out the stuff I wanted, and that’s how I found my resources” (McClure & Clink, 2009).

“Students indicated that the target of their information searching was concise, easy-to-access documents that reflected practical information rather than scholarly research.” On the other hand, students found traditional l ibrary search strategies difficult and gave them negative ratings in enjoyment and ability to provide useful information” (Dubicki, 2010, p. 361).

“Access to the wealth of information freely available over the internet by conducting a simple natural language inquiry using a search engine reveals thousands, if not mill ions of hits. Reviewing just the first page or two of results can usually expose enough information to satisfy the minimum requirements for assignments” (Dubicki, 2010, p. 375).

Introduction to key databasesSummon (UCBA)Opposing Viewpoints (both campuses)Academic Search Complete (UCBA) InfoTrac searches (Lincoln) Introduction to source citation features within

databasesTime afterward to experiment with databases;

students required to find an article relevant to their paper topic and be able to explain to me why they might use it in their paper

LIBRARY INSTRUCTION AT MY SCHOOLS

The UCBA students have a far wider range of l ibrary resources at their disposal than the Lincoln students. Does the number of resources they have change the way they work on their papers? (For example, do the UCBA students turn to Google because Summon is overwhelming? Do the Lincoln students turn to Google because our databases are insufficient?)

At UC: Summon Discovery Service 818 databases

At Lincoln No Discovery Services 2 databases (Gale/InfoTrac databases + LexisNexis Academic) (plus

sources accessible through Ohio Web Library and Kentucky Virtual Library)

DATABASES: UC VS. LINCOLN. A QUESTION I CAN’T ANSWER

Thirty-two essays each from UCBA and Lincoln

Each from the second in a series of two English composition courses

Students were asked to take a stand on a controversial issue and were encouraged to write about an issue under discussion in their major field. They were required to use a minimum of three research sources but were not required to use library databases, although they knew their work would be evaluated in part on the credibility of their sources.

THE PAPERS I STUDIED

PAPER TITLES: LINCOLN "Risky Behavior!" Are You at Risk for

HPV Glaucoma Crohn's Disease and Col i t is Gay Marriage The Effect of Smoking Cigarettes Which Custody is Best for Chi ldren

of Divorces Abortion? Is abortion r ight or wrong? Sorry, no service onl ine ( legal

summons served through Facebook) Effects of Stem Cel l Research Licensed Parenting Non-Profit vs for-profit Methadone

Cl inics The Inequal ity of Marriage Today

(gay marriage) Alzheimer's Disease: how it affects

the family Drinking Alcohol During Pregnancy is

Dangerous Ban Smoking in Publ ic P laces

Athletics Drugs and Role Moldes Should Same Sex Marriage be

Legal ized in the United States? Our Rights as Human Beings to Live

or Die Who are We to Judge? (Pete Rose) Love in Any Form (gay marriage) Assisted Suicide Should Juveni le be Shackled in

Custody? Effective Leadership Smoking in Publ ic Less Lenient (athletes who commit

crimes) Racial Discrimination Prison Gangs Juveni le Drug Use Necrot izing Enterocol it is Legal ize Mari juana Teen Pregnancy Food Stamps

How We Perceive Language "Effects of Advert is ing on Chi ldren" Indie Music : More Mainstream Than We

Th ink Cochlear implants: to use or not to use The Pursui t o f Happiness (ha l lucinogens

in anc ient cul tures) A look into becoming a succesfu l t rader The Ris ing Threat of North Korea The Effects of the Stock Market on the

US Economy Physica l Health Issues Caused by Debt Income Inequal i ty & Economic Cr is is The De-Educat ion of Amer ica Enron: Untouchable to Bankrupt in a

Bl ink of an Eye The Lone Puzz le Piece (vaccines and

aut ism) Drugs and Cr ime Do chi ldren need sealants? Obesi ty 's Effect on Academic

Per formance

Onl ine Ads and What Marketers Can Do to Stop Invading Pr ivacy

Learning with Sty le: the Modern Era (v ideogames are educat ional )

The Health Benefits o f a P lant-Based Diet Technology 's Stronghold on Achievement

(d ig i ta l d iv ide is rea l ) America 's Struggle in Educat ion How the educat ion system impacts

language minor i ty chi ldren The ongoing fluor ide debate Harry Potter vs. Shakespeare The Effects of the Recess ion on Dent istry I s Medicat ion the Answer ? (ADHD) Watch ing Art go (ar ts educat ion in publ ic

schools) Medicare and Medica id Fraud The Wor ld of Journal ism and Twit ter The Start o f Change (men in nursing) Taking the Steps Towards Drug-Free

Nurses Doomsday Prophesies

PAPER TITLES: UCBA

Argua

ble Th

esis S

tatem

ent

Attem

pt at

in-tex

t cita

tions

Attem

pt at

Referen

ce pa

ge0

10

20

30

LincolnUCBA

SOMETIMES, THERE WAS LITTLE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SCHOOLS

Obvious Plagiarism0

2

4

6

8

10

12

Lincoln UCBA

SOMETIMES, THERE WAS QUITE A BIT

Number of Sources0

50

100

150

200

250

Lincoln Library Databases

20% News 17% Advocacy Sites 14% Gov’t sites 8% WebMD & similar 8% Books (including

textbooks) 7% Personal blogs or sites

5% Other / NA 17%

UC Blue Ash News 21% Library Databases 19% Advocacy Sites 15% Scholarly journals not

found via library databases 10%

Books (including textbooks) 7%

Consumer Magazines 5%

Other / NA 23%

WHERE THEY GOT THEIR SOURCES

Non-expert or crowdsourced reference (like Ask.com) (both schools)

Wiki (Lincoln)Trade journals (both schools)Product Advertisements and press releases (UCBA) Interviews (UCBA)Professional Organization information (UCBA—all

American Dental Association related)Feature films (UCBA)

WHAT IS “OTHER”?

BUT WILL THEY CITE?

INADEQUATE CITATION

INADEQUATE CITATION

INADEQUATE CITATION

ADEQUATE CITATION (BY SAME STUDENT AS PREVIOUS)

ADEQUATE SOURCE CITATION

ADEQUATE APA OR MLA CITATION

Adequate APA or MLA Citation05

1015202530

35

LincolnUCBA

Bibme.org or similar

"Freestyle" Database tool

Microsoft Word

02468

1012141618

LincolnUCBA

METHOD OF CREATING CITATIONS SUGGESTIONS VARIATIONS IN INTERNET

ACCESS OR COMFORT WITH TECHNOLOGY

ONE REASON STUDENTS USE THE INTERNET INSTEAD OF OUR

DATABASES

THIS DOESN’T HAPPEN WITH GOOGLE

Provide course-specific links, via LibGuides or the library’s website, so that students do not have to click too much to get to the online sources the instructors hope they will use

Make sure that library instruction with library databases is hands on

Encourage the students to find out enough about the author of the research article and the publication in which it appears to determine whether readers will perceive it as credible

Require students to use library databases for a certain number of their research sources

Provide assignments that require use of sources more complex than what is provided by WebMD

WHAT WE CAN DO—AND ENCOURAGE INSTRUCTORS TO DO

“The Athens City Council is considering whether to institute a citywide smoking ban. The City Council has hired the market research firm you work for to present a report on the issue. Your task is to research smoking bans that other cities may have instituted and to present a 1,000- to 1,500-word essay on your findings. The City Council requires that you present them with enough information regarding the major issues, both for and against the ban, so they make an informed decision … ” (Barratt et al, 2009, p. 51).

AN EXAMPLE OF AN ASSIGNMENT THAT REQUIRES SOME REAL READING

Students need more guidance (at least in my classes) when it comes to choosing topics for their controversial-issue papers and in evaluating advocacy websites.

Students are generally savvy enough not to present information from product advertisements as factual data in their research papers.

It’s disturbing that each group of students selected only 20 percent of their sources from library databases, but few of the sources they used were outrageously inappropriate.

The Lincoln students had a much more difficult time with the writing task than the UCBA students, as is shown in the quality of their topic choices, their writing, and their source citation.

CONCLUSIONS