A Study on the Effects of Citation Expression Education in College Writing Classes: Focusing on Changes in Error Patterns According to Course Phases

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine how citation instruction in college writing courses for undergraduates influences students’ actual usage. To achieve this, an effective instructional model for citation expression in college writing courses for undergraduates was constructed in this research. Additionally, errors in citation usage were analyzed at different stages of the course to validate which teaching methods are effective in citation instruction. To do this, a total of 78 freshman writing students at Y University participated in citation expression education, and errors in citation expression in their first and second assignments were investigated. In the first writing assignment conducted after theory-based instruction, the error rate was 44.6%. However, in the second writing assignment submitted after practice-centered instruction, the error rate decreased to 12.0%. This indicates that after practice-centered instruction, approximately 90% of the students were able to use citation expressions accurately. Through this research on citation expression education, the following implications can be identified: First, theory-based lectures can raise awareness of the importance of research ethics and citation expression but may not lead to accurate usage. Therefore, practical case-based instruction should be included. Second, expressions that have not been practically used tend to result in higher error rates. Hence, students should be encouraged to use a variety of citation expressions. Third, group activities and peer feedback vary in effectiveness depending on the level of peers. Therefore, it is essential to create groups with minimal differences in skill levels when organizing group activities.