Using the Web as a Research Source: Implications for L2 Academic Writing

As scholars increasingly view the World Wide Web (the Web) as a legitimate research resource in academic writing, questions remain regarding how Web sources, as new media, influence the writing of second and foreign language (L2) learners. Via a 17-item questionnaire and an analysis of the references to 243 Web sources in the essays of 43 Japanese undergraduate English as a foreign language writers, this study examined whether (a) Web-based research influenced the writers' topic choice; (b) their choice of Web sources was appropriate for an academic essay; and (c) using an online, electronic environment would lead writers to use new language-related strategies. The findings suggested a possible shift towards more internationally oriented topics as a result of the predominance of English language sites on the Web. In addition, a considerable portion of the participants' references came from Web genres of questionable suitability for an academic paper. In a similar vein, working in an electronic environment was an enticement for some L2 writers to take ethically dubious shortcuts in their writing.