Effects of a classroom intervention on college students’ sourcing skills: replication and extension study

ABSTRACT

We adapted and evaluated the effects of a classroom intervention (extension of https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2018.04.006) on undergraduates’ sourcing skills. Students (n = 266) received either a teacher-led intervention (trained group) or regular classes (control group) and were assessed before, after, and 6 to 8 weeks after the intervention. Additionally, we included an ecological indicator: the quality of references in a high-stakes team essay. Overall, the intervention group outperformed controls in both post-tests: They gave lower ratings for bad quality links and used source-based criteria more often to select a text deemed as more reliable when reading two conflicting documents. They also included better quality references in their essays (i.e. references applying the targeted source dimensions) and avoided lesser quality ones (i.e. references overlooking those dimensions). No differences were found in the mention of sources in a far transfer argumentation. We discuss that the intervention improved students’ sourcing skills even in long-term generalized tasks.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data and analyses script that support the findings of this study are openly available in Open Science Framework, at https://osf.io/vf6j2/?view_only=620870ec166a43c080687e9ec45b1ed5

Design and analysis transparency

We confirm that we reviewed the APA Journal Article Reporting Standards. The standards for quantitative research are relevant to the present research, and we have followed those standards in reporting.

Supplementary data

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/0163853X.2024.2339738

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Secretaría de Ciencia y Técnica, Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBACYT 20020190100077BA and PIDAE_2020_52 grants).