The Challenges of Writing From Sources in College Developmental Courses: Self-Regulated Strategy Instruction

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a curriculum based on self-regulated strategy instruction in college developmental writing courses. Prior research that had found large effects on the writing quality for essays without sources was extended to include strategies for critical reading and note-taking, writing summary response papers, and integrating source information into argumentative essays. This randomized control trial included 23 instructors from two community colleges and 187 students. Outcome measures included quality of argumentative writing with sources, a summary scored for inclusion of main ideas and overall quality, a motivation questionnaire, a writing test from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), Accuplacer Reading, and observations and interviews. Using hierarchical linear modeling, positive effects were found on all primary outcomes: quality of argumentative writing with sources (p < .01; ES = +.53), and on the quality (p < .05; ES = +.30) and inclusion of main ideas (p < .05; ES = +.31) on the summary. No detectable effects were found on secondary outcomes: the NAEP test, reading, or motivation.