The role of epistemic beliefs and gender in online argumentative essay writing

This study explores the role of students’ epistemic beliefs and gender in argumentation performance in essay writing within an online learning environment. In this exploratory study, data were collected from 148 undergraduate students from a Dutch university specializing in life sciences. In this study, both male and female students were asked to follow an argumentative essay writing module for three weeks. In the first week, students write an essay on given topics. In the second week, students provided peer feedback and in the third week, students revised their essays based on the received feedback from peers. In the end, students filled out a survey about epistemic beliefs. The results showed that students’ beliefs about the Internet-specific justification of knowledge did not influence argumentation performance, while beliefs about the nature of scientific knowledge had an influential role. Results showed no overall gender differences in argumentative essay writing. The interaction effects of beliefs about the Internet-specific justification of knowledge and gender in argumentation performance, overall, were reported to be neutral. However, there was an interaction effect between students’ epistemic beliefs about the nature of scientific knowledge and their gender in argumentation performance. These findings provide evidence for guiding students’ argumentation performance in higher education.