Few studies have investigated how search behavior affects complex writing tasks. We analyze a dataset of 150 long essays whose authors searched the ClueWeb09 corpus for source material, while all querying, clicking, and writing activity was meticulously recorded. We model the effect of search and writing behavior on essay quality using path analysis. Since the boil-down and build-up writing strategies identified in previous research have been found to affect search behavior, we model each writing strategy separately. Our analysis shows that the search process contributes significantly to essay quality through both direct and mediated effects, while the author's writing strategy moderates this relationship. Our models explain 25–35% of the variation in essay quality through rather simple search and writing process characteristics alone, a fact that has implications on how search engines could personalize result pages for writing tasks. Authors' writing strategies and associated searching patterns differ, producing differences in essay quality. In a nutshell: essay quality improves if search and writing strategies harmonize—build-up writers benefit from focused, in-depth querying, while boil-down writers fare better with a broader and shallower querying strategy.

中文翻译：

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从搜索和写作行为预测论文质量

很少有研究调查搜索行为如何影响复杂的写作任务。我们分析了一个包含 150 篇长论文的数据集，这些论文的作者在 ClueWeb09 语料库中搜索了源材料，同时所有的查询、点击和写作活动都被仔细记录下来。我们使用路径分析对搜索和写作行为对论文质量的影响进行建模。由于已发现先前研究中确定的归结和积累写作策略会影响搜索行为，因此我们分别对每种写作策略进行建模。我们的分析表明，搜索过程通过直接和中介效应对论文质量有显着贡献，而作者的写作策略则缓和了这种关系。我们的模型仅通过相当简单的搜索和写作过程特征就解释了论文质量变化的 25-35%，这一事实对搜索引擎如何个性化结果页面以编写任务有影响。作者的写作策略和相关的搜索模式不同，造成论文质量的差异。简而言之：如果搜索和写作策略协调一致，论文质量就会提高——积累型作家受益于集中、深入的查询，而归化作家则更适合采用更广泛和更浅的查询策略。