Date of Award

Fall 2024

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

English

Committee Director

Kristi Murray Costello

Committee Member

Michelle Fowler-Amato

Committee Member

Kevin DePew

Committee Member

Sandra Jamieson

Abstract

This study makes a contribution to the rhetoric and composition field by documenting the research and writing processes of a diverse group of 15 multilingual writers in first-year composition (FYC) at a small private southeastern university. I collected and analyzed data from three assignments: 1) a video think-aloud capturing participants’ first online search for sources, 2) a two-page reflection on the use of sources in the first full draft of students’ research paper, and 3) their first full draft of the research paper. The study is the first to systematically examine how multilingual writers in FYC at a U.S. university engage with sources from the start of approaching a research-paper assignment through writing a first full draft. The study adapted methods from two large-scale studies—Learning Information Literacy Across the Curriculum (LILAC) and the Citation Project (Blackwell-Starnes and Walker; Jamieson and Howard). While the study’s findings emerge primarily from qualitative data and interpretation, the results are supported with quantitative data and analysis in a mixed-methods approach.

The study’s findings show that the 15 study participants learned a great deal about the expectations of the “community of practice” (Lave and Wenger) of the FYC classroom. In particular, they acquired the language of the “community of practice.” A critical number of participants explained the why or how of “paraphrasing” or use of “quotation.” They referred to “peer-reviewed” sources. However, results were uneven among participants in demonstrating understanding of the expectations of practice in the FYC classroom. Four students showed continuity by integrating source material in their research paper from a source that they had found in their first online search. Students’ papers contained 15 instances of what I call “sustained paraphrasing”—including at least three sentences that restate content from a particular source. However, only five of those examples of sustained paraphrasing were effective. The study shows the need for more research on pedagogical models for teaching multilingual writers in FYC the functions of sources and meaningful integration.

Rights

In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

DOI

10.25777/9q59-b307

ISBN

9798302861283

Download

Share

COinS