Written Communication Jan 2018

Examining Intertextual Connections in Written Arguments: A Study of Student Writing as Social Participation and Response

Allison Wynhoff Olsen Montana State University ; Jennifer VanDerHeide Michigan State University ; Brenton Goff The Ohio State University ; Mandie B. Dunn Michigan State University

Abstract

Writing studies scholarship has long understood the need for context-based studies of student writing. Few studies, however, have closely examined how students use intertextual relationships in the context of learning to compose argumentative essays. Drawing on a 17-day argumentative writing unit in a ninth-grade humanities classroom, this article uses the concept of “intertextual trace” to explore how students make intertextual connections in their writing and negotiate the social dynamics of classroom learning. Intertextual analysis of students’ final essays revealed overlapping tracings and resonances across multiple resources, showing how and the ways in which students create arguments and respond to exigencies within a classroom setting. Analysis of thematic, structural, and lexical tracings also showed students making intertextual connections through repeating, reordering, responding to, and extending the texts offered by their teacher and peers. In so doing, students served as curators—shaping ideas, curricular offerings, and language into final argumentative essays—who were able to develop agency in and through their writing.

Journal
Written Communication
Published
2018-01-01
DOI
10.1177/0741088317739557
Open Access
Closed
Topics
race and writing

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (2)

  1. VanDerHeide et al. (2023)
    Conceptualizing Dialogic Literary Argumentation: Inviting Students to Take a Tu…
    Written Communication
  2. Imbrenda (2018)
    “No Facts Equals Unconvincing”: Fact and Opinion as Conceptual Tools in High Sc…
    Written Communication

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