Reading to write: Self‐regulated learning strategies when writing essays from sources

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Student use of two self‐regulated learning strategies during a reading‐to‐write task was investigated. Seventy‐one college undergraduates read two source texts and then wrote a comparison/ contrast essay based on these texts. Use of one self‐regulated learning strategy, organizing/ transforming, was assessed by scoring subjects’ pre‐writing notes on their level of organization. Use of the second strategy, task‐information seeking, was measured by timing how long students accessed guidelines for writing comparison/ contrast essays and two model comparison/ contrast essays, which were available to subjects but were not required reading. Two other contributing variables, reading ability and self‐efficacy for writing, were also assessed. Results showed that essay writing quality, as measured by primary trait scoring, was significantly correlated with each of the four variables. However, a multiple regression revealed that only two variables, reading ability and task‐information seeking, contributed uniquely to writing quality.