Supporting Source Integration in Student Writing

A cross-disciplinary team of composition, communication, and library faculty used lesson study to investigate interdisciplinary instructional strategies to improve students' use of quoting in their writing. The team developed a three-class lesson plan to introduce the concept of quoting, practice the concept, and allow students to reflect on their use of quotations in their writing. We collected a pre and post quiz to measure students' understanding before and after the lesson, students' practice paragraphs, students' reflections, and students' final course research assignments. These samples were analyzed by the research team. Our evidence suggests that students can articulate how a quote from a source should be integrated into their writing by describing how they would use a signal phrase and quotation marks, but they have difficulty in applying this complex skill in their own writing even after focused instruction on how to use quotes.