ABSTRACT
This chapter reports the findings of an empirical study that investigated the relationship between instructor evaluation of business student essays and text-based features of source use. The students (n = 90) wrote a short opinion essay (250–300 words) about whether employees should select their own leaders. They were required to apply a communication theory discussed in class and use information from a source text provided during the exam to support their position. Instructors evaluated the essays in terms of the students’ claim statement, application of theory with source evidence, and essay structure. The researchers analyzed these to identify the following text-based features: main and supporting idea units, source text use, source use form (e.g., direct or indirect), source information accuracy, and source-use rhetorical purpose (e.g., introduce a new idea, elaborate an idea, give an example, or repeat a previous idea). The results indicated that instructor scores for essays in which students agreed with the prompt were related to the number of main ideas; however, instructor scores for disagreement essays were positively related to source use and elaboration but negatively associated with indirect source use. Implications for disciplinary and EAP writing instruction are provided.
