"Problems in the Writing Center"

"Problems in the Writing Center"

Although author Kathryn Evans addresses professors more than writing center personnel in this article, unclear writing assignments have plagued us all as tutors and students. Teachers (including me) are so familiar with certain concepts that we can easily forget that that these concepts are brand new to our students.

For example, in the Writing Center we see students who don't understand what a thesis statement or topic sentence is, or who don't bother with paragraph breaks. Many of our students don't understand that academic writing is almost a separate language, and that generally, slang, curse words, and sentence fragments are frowned upon. We may assume that because students were accepted into Madonna, they have some of these basics, but that's not always the case.

Jeri and I kind of laughed at the prospect of asking Madonna professors to modify their writing assignments to include more detailed criteria as well as many levels of scaffolding. Like so many educators across the country, much of our faculty feels overworked and frazzled--just as we often feel in the Writing Center.

Larger writing centers sometimes have a student liaison to work with a specific department. If we were a larger writing center, for example, John might work with Katie O'Dowd in Humanities and Holly might work with Dan McDougall in Sign Language Studies. This individual may help decode writing assignments or maybe even work with the instructor to create these assignments. Who knows? It may happen yet. (This means, of course, that John and Holly can never graduate.)

-- Frances

"Expand the Audience: Excellence in L2 Writing"

When I read Susan and Marian's excellent article, I was struck again by how much we're asking of our ESL students. Not only are these students struggling with content, organization, and mechanics--we're also inviting them to address a seemingly imaginary audience.

A couple of points really hit home for me:

1. How much a sense of audience can focus a student's (ESL or native speakers) choices concerning subject, content, style, and word choice. In this way, what seems at first like an added complication may offer clarity to student writers.

2. The challenge of moving into reader-based writing. For native speakers, it's often a matter of developing more intellectual sophistication, but it becomes more complicated when reader-based writing is not part of one's cultural background.

3. The importance of Writing Center tutors. Not only are we supportive readers, we also represent that vague audience. By revising text so we can more readily access it, ESL (and other) students are making their work more accessible to all their readers.

We've all been students. What do you remember about moving from writer-based to reader-based writing?

-- Frances

Blog Features

If you haven't noticed already, the blog looks a little different than it did about a week ago. Last Tuesday, I added some features that I want to tell you about.

1. On the right hand side of the screen are some links. These are the links that we have in our Online Resources handout. Take some time and look through them so you can recommend them to students or use them yourself.

2. Underneath the links is a poll. This week the subject was about which citation style you are most comfortable using. Every week it should change. If you have an idea for a poll let me know. I'm excited to see what the results are!

If there is anything else you think should be added to the blog please let me know! I'm always interested in hearing (or seeing) your suggestions!

--Holly

The Third Voice in the Session: Helping Students Interpret Teachers' Comments on Their Papers

As an instructor, I've noticed that students frequently correct minor errors I've commented on and ignore higher order concerns. These include thesis statements, topic sentences, opposing arguments in persuasive essays, and elaboration of interesting but under-developed ideas.Is this because it's easier to fix grammar and punctuation errors than it is to think more deeply? Or is it because students believe the lower-order concerns (surface errors) are more important than the higher order concerns (big picture)?

Following are a few nuggets of advice in "The Third Voice" that I liked especially:* We need to translate teacher comments into questions that spark conversation with the student about his or her work;* We need to break down the steps that the student needs to take so he or she isn't overwhelmed.When we're not sure what a professor means by a written comment, I believe we all encourage our student writers to confer with their instructors. This is the students' responsibility and part of their taking ownership of their work.What's your perspective, as tutors, students, and professors?

Posted by ffitzgerald at 12:40 PM