User:AmJans/sandbox

Abstract

Do the type of sources used by students in their lab report correlate with their comprehension of theory? The objective of this research project is to investigate the connections between student selection of information sources and the comprehension of theory in an engineering lab course. The results will provide instructors with a tool that provides multiple aspects and qualities to examine when assessing the information sources students use in an engineering lab course.

This project examined the types of information sources that students cited in their lab reports by four facets that include format, author, editorial process, and publication purpose and correlated them with a disciplinary evaluation of their technical reports. The taxonomy used to describe and classify these facets was adapted from a taxonomy created for English composition courses, to include information formats specific to the engineering discipline. The information sources were extracted from student lab reports over three years, and each citation was classified by the four facets. In addition, the reports themselves were evaluated for the demonstration of comprehension of the theoretical content. Each student cohort was then divided into performance categories (top, middle, and bottom third). The frequency of usage and the most frequent combinations of facets was identified. The differences in the distribution of facets were examined for correlations between the sources and performance. Although causation cannot be established, the data set could lay the groundwork in identifying the types of sources most commonly used by engineering students and those that are correlated with the higher-performing students.

Background

Engineering librarians are concerned with the quality of sources students use in their assignments [1]–[4]. However, the changing nature of the information landscape and the expansion of information sources available to undergraduate students has made it more difficult to use one-size-fits-all recommendations or conclusions. This challenge has lead academic librarians, in general, to move away from prescriptive standards to a more flexible framework for the development of information literacy instruction [5]. Recently, the approach of using a faceted taxonomy to examine information sources used by students has been piloted by two studies.

Leeder, Markey, and Yakel [6] sought to create a standardized assessment tool that was flexible enough to include online sources that students use. They found fault with the criteria used by most previous citation analyses: currency, relevance, the correctness of citation format, quality, and scholarliness. Instead, they developed a faceted taxonomy that included the information format, the literary content, the author identity, the editorial process, and the publication purpose. They also added ranked scores to each facet. They used the taxonomy to assess the impact of an online game by using the taxonomy on a student research assignment completed by both a test and control group. They found the faceted taxonomy useful for this assignment because students used a high number of online sources and few scholarly sources, most likely because of the assignment topic and no requirement to use scholarly sources. For this pilot study, 30 bibliographies were scored.

Rosenzweig, Thill, and Lambert [7] adapted the same faceted taxonomy to assess research papers in an English writing course. Their goal was to better understand the sources selected by students and how they determined authority. They chose to use only the facets for author identity, editorial process, and publication purpose. But they did not use the numerical scores used by Leeder, Markey, and Yakel [6] in order to take a more descriptive approach. They scored 60 student papers with a total of 692 citations. They found that 75 percent of the resulting facet combinations were represented by 14 sub facet combinations. They compared these 14 sub facet combinations to student variables such as GPA, student age, and paper grade. They found no significant patterns or correlations.

Since it is well recognized that engineers use information sources differently than other disciplines [8]–[10], this faceted taxonomy left out some information formats that are key to engineering. With small modifications, the faceted taxonomies developed by Leeder, Markey, and Yakel [6] and Rosenzweig, Thill, and Lambert [7] can be used to identify the types of information sources contemporary engineering students are using in their assignments. This modified taxonomy will help engineering librarians and engineering faculty to have a greater understanding of the types of information sources that engineering students are using.

Purpose

The objective of this research project was to identify commonly cited information sources and then to further investigate the connections between student selection of information sources and comprehension of theory in an engineering lab course. In particular, do academically high achieving students rely more on sources written for academic audiences compared to lower-achieving students? The results provide instructors with a tool that provides multiple aspects and qualities to examine when assessing the information sources students use in an engineering lab course. This project built on the two previous uses of a faceted taxonomy and used a bigger dataset.