Writing Approaches of Graduate Students

The writing approach framework provides a comprehensive perspective on college‐level academic writing based on the relationship of writers’ beliefs and strategies to the quality of written outcomes. However, despite increased demands for more and better writing at the graduate level, little is known about graduate‐level writing processes or about the beliefs of graduate students regarding writing. The goals of this project were the preliminary development of a factor analytic model of graduate writing processes, and of an inventory to measure writing strategies. The results support seven independent factors: elaborative, low self‐efficacy, no revision, intuitive, scientist, task‐oriented, and sculptor, with the intuitive factor predictive of an academic writing outcome. Suggestions are advanced for classroom instruction and for further research.

[1]  A. Guarino,et al.  A Multidimensional Approach to Understanding College Writing Processes , 2003 .

[2]  Teaching writing to ESL graduate students: A model and an illustration , 1999 .

[3]  N. Entwistle,et al.  Understanding Student Learning , 1983 .

[4]  Ann E. Austin,et al.  On the Road to Becoming A Professor: The Graduate Student Experience , 1999 .

[5]  Ellen Lavelle,et al.  Development and validation of an inventory to assess processes in college composition , 1993 .

[6]  Philip Hubbard,et al.  The Writing Assignments and Writing Problems of Doctoral Students: Faculty Perceptions, Pedagogical Issues, and Needed Research. , 1992 .

[7]  Peggy Nightingale,et al.  Understanding Processes and Problems in Student Writing. , 1988 .

[8]  Lisa Y. Flores,et al.  The Career Counseling Self-Efficiency Scale: Instrument development and training applications. , 1997 .

[9]  E. Lavelle.  Writing style and the narrative essay , 1997 .

[10]  W. Michael Reed,et al.  The Effects of Writing Ability and Mode of Discourse on Cognitive Capacity Engagement. , 1985 .

[11]  Mark Torrance,et al.  The writing strategies of graduate research students in the social sciences , 1994 .

[12]  K. Crehan.  A Discussion of Analytic Scoring for Writing Performance Assessments. , 1997 .

[13]  C. Talley,et al.  Career counseling. , 1984, American journal of hospital pharmacy.

[14]  Hayes.  identifying the organization of wi iiing processes , 1980 .

[15]  John Biggs,et al.  Approaches to learning and to essay writing. , 1988 .

[16]  James Hartley,et al.  The Psychology of Written Communication , 1981 .

[17]  Barbara S. Plake,et al.  Cognitive capacity differences among writers , 1984 .

[18]  Renu Gupta.  Managing General and Specific Information in Introductions. , 1995 .

[19]  Ellen Lavelle,et al.  The writing approaches of university students , 2001 .

[20]  R. Cattell.  The Scree Test For The Number Of Factors. , 1966, Multivariate behavioral research.

[21]  J. Biggs.  Student Approaches to Learning and Studying , 1987 .

[22]  D. Kember,et al.  The dimensionality of approaches to learning : an investigation with confirmatory factor analysis on the structure of the SPQ and LPQ , 1998 .

[23]  David L. Wallace,et al.  Redefining Revision for Freshmen , 1991, Reading Empirical Research Studies: The Rhetoric of Research.

[24]  Marcia B. Baxter Magolda.  Developing Self‐Authorship in Graduate School , 1998 .

[25]  N. Entwistle,et al.  Contrasting forms of understanding for degree examinations: the student experience and its implications , 1991 .

[26]  George H. Jensen,et al.  Writing and Personality: Finding Your Voice, Your Style, Your Way , 1995 .

[27]  J. Behrens.  Does the White Racial Identity Attitude Scale Measure Racial Identity , 1997 .