For the 2023-2024 academic year sources cited by students in a sampling of papers from Fall ENGL 1311 and ENGL 1312 and Spring ENGL 1312 classes were reviewed. The type of source was recorded and sources were assessed for their relevance to the topic and reliability of the source. Some comparisons were made between courses that utilized an embedded librarian and those that did not. 

This academic year was notable as it was the first full academic year since the launch of several free generative AI products beginning with ChatGTP in November 2022.  Potentially AI generated papers sometimes stand out in citation reviews as citations that combine real journal titles, volumes, and issues with fake article titles, authors, or page numbers were easily found when these reviews were conducted.  However, the review of citations for papers written during the spring semester found papers that included both false citations and citations from open access journals. The percentage of articles cited from databases has been decreasing since these reviews began with the 2021-2022 academic year, but the correlation suggests that AI generators may be getting “smarter” and including real open access articles in their citations when asked to write papers.  

Fall 2023 ENGL 1311 Embedded in 2 classes

• 245 citations reviewed from 4 of 20 total sections, 22% of sections sampled.
• 45 papers total, average of 5.4 citations per paper.
• Websites comprised 58% of citations in all classes. Reliability of sources for classes with an embedded librarian was 97%, but only 85% for courses not using an embedded librarian, mostly due to an increase in the number of inaccessible sources cited by students in these classes. 

ENGL 1312 Fall 2023 Embedded in 3 classes

• 470 citations reviewed from 8 of 21 total sections, 38% of sections sampled.
• 68 papers total, average of 6.9 citations per paper.
• In classes with an embedded librarian, articles were the most frequently cited source, being cited 61% of the time. Classes that received only in-person instruction, or no instruction at all favored websites, citing them 39% and 57% of all sources.  
• Source reliability for all classes using an embedded librarian was 98% and 92% for classes that received an in-person instruction from a librarian. Reliability in classes that did not receive any librarian IL instruction was 84%. This was exclusively due to sources that could not be found with the information cited, or full text that could not be accessed from any source that did not require payment.

ENGL 1312 Spring 2024 Embedded in 10 classes

• 1457 citations reviewed from 18 of 33 total sections, 55% of sections sampled.
• 250 papers total, average of 5.8 citations per paper.
• All classes cited websites the most with the exception of those using both in-person and embedded librarian information literacy instruction, which cited articles for 60% of its sources. 
• Source reliability for all classes was 93%. The primary reason sources were not found to be reliable was that the book or article was not accessible in full-text or a website could not be found with the information given or was no longer available.  Overall relevancy was also at 93%.

Extra review of cited open access articles from ENGL 1312 papers. (A full list of the publication titles and links may be found the spreadsheet Open Access Journal Review ENGL 1312 2023-2024 located in the Citation Review Data Collection Tables box.)

The majority of the full-text articles were accessible either directly from the publisher, or through a public database like PubMed Central or ERIC.  In both semesters articles accessed through a National Library of Medicine database (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/) comprised one-third of all open access articles cited. This was mostly on the topical and issue driven papers. Open source articles were not commonly cited by students writing career or literature papers.

For the 2022-2023 academic year sources cited by students in a sampling of papers from Fall ENGL 1311 and Spring ENGL 1312 classes were reviewed. The type of sources was recorded and sources were assessed for their relevance to the topic and the reliability of the source. Some comparisons were made between courses that utilized an embedded librarian and those that did not. 

Fall 2022 ENGL 1311 Embedded in 2 classes

• 188 citations reviewed from 4 of 20 total sections of ENGL 1311, 20% of sections sampled.
• 49 papers total, average of 3.8 citations per paper.
• Websites comprised 64% of citations in both embedded and non-embedded sections. Reliability of sources differed slightly with 95% of sources cited in embedded courses and 87% of sources in non-embedded classes reliable. Most of the decrease in non-embedded courses was due to students citing sources that were not available in free full text from any source, website or UA-PTC databases.

Spring 2023 ENGL 1312 Embedded in 6 classes

• 770 citations reviewed from 12 of 32 total sections of ENGL 1312, 37% of sections sampled.
• 164 papers total, average of 4.7 citations per paper.
• In embedded courses, articles were the most popular type of source cited, being used for 49% of all cited sources. Websites were the most popular source in nonembedded courses websites comprising 62% of all sources cited. This preference for websites affected reliability as 96% of citations used by embedded classes were from reliable sources while 89% of those used in nonembedded classes citing reliable sources. This was due more to sources not being available as it was to use of non-reliable sources.

For the 2021-2022 academic year sourced cited by students in a sampling of ENGL 1311 papers were reviewed. Type of sources was recorded and sources were assessed for their relevance to the topic and the reliability of the source. Some comparisons were made between courses that utilized an embedded librarian and those that did not. 

Fall 2021

• 418 citations reviewed from 10 of 56 total sections of ENGL 1311, 17.9% of sections sampled.
• 119 papers total, average of 3.5 citations per paper.
• Websites comprised 59% of citations in embedded courses. In nonembedded courses that number was 68%.
• Reliability was comparable with 93% of citations used by embedded classes and 92% of those used in nonembedded classes citing reliable sources.

Spring 2022

• 218 citations reviewed from 6 of 29 total sections of ENGL 1311, 20.1% of sections sampled.
• 59 papers total, average of 3.7 citations per paper.
• Websites comprised 75% of citations in embedded courses. In nonembedded courses that number was 82%.
• Reliability varied widely with 98% of citations used by embedded classes and 77% of those used in nonembedded classes citing reliable sources.