Compares citation methods used by community-college students and for-profit college students in English Composition classes.

1. Laurie Henry
lhenry@lincolntech.com
henrylj@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/

3.  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

5.  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

6.  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

7.  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
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
No Library Instruction
(books 24%; articles,
21%; Websites 51%)
With Library
Instruction (books
17%; articles 29%;
Websites 50%)
Books
Articles
Websites
(Barratt et al, 2009)

8. 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 library 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 millions 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).

9.  Introduction to key databases
 Summon (UCBA)
 Opposing Viewpoints (both campuses)
 Academic Search Complete (UCBA)
 InfoTrac searches (Lincoln)
 Introduction to source citation features within databases
 Time 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

10.  The UCBA students have a far wider range of library 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

11.  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

12. PAPER TITLES: LINCOLN
 "Risky Behavior!" Are You at Risk for HPV
 Glaucoma
 Crohn's Disease and Colitis
 Gay Marriage
 The Effect of Smoking Cigarettes
 Which Custody is Best for Children of
Divorces
 Abortion? Is abortion right or wrong?
 Sorry, no service online (legal summons
served through Facebook)
 Effects of Stem Cell Research
 Licensed Parenting
 Non-Profit vs for-profit Methadone Clinics
 The Inequality of Marriage Today (gay
marriage)
 Alzheimer's Disease: how it affects the
family
 Drinking Alcohol During Pregnancy is
Dangerous
 Ban Smoking in Public Places
 Athletics Drugs and Role Moldes
 Should Same Sex Marriage be Legalized 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 Juvenile be Shackled in Custody?
 Effective Leadership
 Smoking in Public
 Less Lenient (athletes who commit
crimes)
 Racial Discrimination
 Prison Gangs
 Juvenile Drug Use
 Necrotizing Enterocolitis
 Legalize Marijuana
 Teen Pregnancy
 Food Stamps

13.  How We Perceive Language
 "Effects of Advertising on Children"
 Indie Music: More Mainstream Than We
Think
 Cochlear implants: to use or not to use
 The Pursuit of Happiness (hallucinogens
in ancient cultures)
 A look into becoming a succesful trader
 The Rising Threat of North Korea
 The Effects of the Stock Market on the US
Economy
 Physical Health Issues Caused by Debt
 Income Inequality & Economic Crisis
 The De-Education of America
 Enron: Untouchable to Bankrupt in a Blink
of an Eye
 The Lone Puzzle Piece (vaccines and
autism)
 Drugs and Crime
 Do children need sealants?
 Obesity's Effect on Academic Performance
 Online Ads and What Marketers Can Do to
Stop Invading Privacy
 Learning with Style: the Modern Era
(videogames are educational)
 The Health Benefits of a Plant-Based Diet
 Technology's Stronghold on Achievement
(digital divide is real)
 America's Struggle in Education
 How the education system impacts
language minority children
 The ongoing fluoride debate
 Harry Potter vs. Shakespeare
 The Effects of the Recession on Dentistry
 Is Medication the Answer? (ADHD)
 Watching Art go (arts education in public
schools)
 Medicare and Medicaid Fraud
 The World of Journalism and Twitter
 The Start of Change (men in nursing)
 Taking the Steps Towards Drug-Free
Nurses
 Doomsday Prophesies
PAPER TITLES: UCBA

14. 0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
Arguable Thesis
Statement
Attempt at in-text
citations
Attempt at Reference
page
Lincoln
UCBA
SOMETIMES, THERE WAS LITTLE
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SCHOOLS

15. 0
2
4
6
8
10
12
Obvious Plagiarism
Lincoln UCBA
SOMETIMES, THERE WAS QUITE A BIT
0
50
100
150
200
250
Number of Sources

16. 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

17.  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”?

18. BUT WILL THEY CITE?

19. INADEQUATE CITATION

20. INADEQUATE CITATION

21. INADEQUATE CITATION

22. ADEQUATE CITATION (BY SAME STUDENT
AS PREVIOUS)

23. ADEQUATE SOURCE CITATION

24. ADEQUATE APA OR MLA CITATION
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
Adequate APA or MLA Citation
Lincoln
UCBA

25. 0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
Bibme.org or
similar
"Freestyle" Database tool Microsoft Word
Lincoln
UCBA
METHOD OF CREATING CITATIONS
SUGGESTIONS VARIATIONS IN INTERNET
ACCESS OR COMFORT WITH TECHNOLOGY

26. ONE REASON STUDENTS USE THE
INTERNET INSTEAD OF OUR DATABASES

27. THIS DOESN’T HAPPEN WITH GOOGLE

28.  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

29.  “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

30.  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