625 and 502

Example of writing a paragraph from a subheading in the fleshed-out outline.

The Effects of Motivation on Writing for Adolescent Writers

I. Assessing student motivation (part of the example outline.)

A. Self-efficacy and motivation are different but related concepts. Under the umbrella of motivation, self-efficacy is the most commonly assessed aspect (Camacho et al., 2021; Graham et al., 2018; Ng et al., 2022).

B. Tools for assessing motivation (Camacho et al., 2021; Graham et al., 2018; Ng et al., 2022; Wright et al., 2019) Example paragraph is from this subheading in the outline.

C. Limitations of gauging self-efficacy: Surveys of student perceptions are inexpert and can be skewed by many factors. (Butcher, 2022; Graham et al., 2018; Ng et al., 2022)

Example Paragraph from Literature Review

One reason that self-efficacy might be such a commonly studied motivational construct is because of its accessibility when it comes to gauging the motivation of a student. Students may have limited awareness of external factors affecting their motivation, but they can answer about their own beliefs about writing. Motivation can be difficult to measure, so many studies rely on surveys to collect data. Usually, this measure of motivation is combined with an assessment of a student’s writing performance (Camacho et al., 2021). The writing efficacy measure used by Graham et al. (2018) contained 11 items containing first person statements about students’ attitudes towards the writing process. A similar survey was used by Ng et al. (2022) but with the distinction mentioned earlier between basic skills and idea generation. This study also expanded beyond self-efficacy and used a cluster analysis to examine the impact of not only self-efficacy, but other motives such as curiosity, grades, relief from boredom, emotional regulation, and several other factors. Wright et al. (2021) also expanded on survey items for assessing student motivation by examining the validity of the Self-Beliefs, Writing-Beliefs, and Attitude Survey as it aims to identify multiple areas of impact on writing and writing motivation. It is clear that such surveys are useful in gathering data on what students identify as personally motivating, which can then be analyzed and compared with their actual performance on a writing task.

References (from example literature review)

Camacho, A., Alves, R. A., & Boscolo, P. (2021). Writing motivation in school: a systematic review of empirical research in the early twenty-first century. Educational Psychology Review, 33(1), 213–247. doi:10.1007/s10648-020-09530-4

Graham, S. (2018). A revised writer(s)-within-community model of writing. Educational Psychologist, 53(4), 258–279. doi:10.1080/00461520.2018.1481406

Ng, C., Graham, S., Liu, X., Lau, K.-L., & Tang, K.-Y. (2022). Relationships between writing motives, writing self-efficacy and time on writing among Chinese students: Path models and cluster analyses. Reading & Writing, 35(2), 427–455. doi: 10.1007/s11145-021-10190-1

Wright, K. L., Hodges, T. S., & McTigue, E. M. (2019). A validation program for the self-Beliefs, writing-beliefs, and attitude survey: A measure of adolescents’ motivation toward writing. Assessing Writing, 39, 64–78. doi:10.1016/j.asw.2018.12.004