Introduction:
I will be studying the reason of why students come to the writing center and if there are difference between their grade level and their writing problems. I have had mostly ESL students which make my research alot more difficult, but it seems that even english speaking students have the same problems as ESL, ie: grammer, sentence structure, understanding the assignment, knowing how a formal paper is written.


review of the literature:
occurding to several books, freshman are most interested in looking at the structure and understanding the assignment, while upperclassman want to focus on the grammar and sentence structure.

methods:
i always asked the student first about their day, the class, the teacher, the subject, if they have any other work that the professor graded. i also ask them if they have an assignment, and if they even read the material, and if they understood it. i then quickly go over the assignment with the student, taking notes for myself to structure the paper. i ask the student if they have any questions, and what they want to go over with their paper. most students just shrug and nonchalantly say "everything, i really don't know what im doing", some are more assertive and will say " i need help with ....", making my job a lot easier. i usually ask the student to read the first paragraph, or first sentence, asking if they see any problems, and of course, they ALWAYS say no, until i point out a punctuation mistake, or that a word doesn't belong. By making the student read outloud, they can almost always pick out mistakes, most of the time, the student reads what he means to say, but doesnt write it correctly. By going over a few mistakes, students are able to realize problems throughout their paper. ive had 6 sessions with 5 undergraduate students, at least one student per grade level in the past month.

Data analysis:
My ESL students always came to me about grammatical problems. Surprisingly, my only english native speaker had the same problems. I mistakenly asked her if english was her first language, and she got very offended. As a junior, her writing was equal to or worse than an ESL. I still have to look over my notes, but it seemed like all my students have grammatical concerns, and most need to learn how to write a strong sentence.


* look at google books/ bibme.org for extra resources!

draft of mt research plan (blog 17)

Statement of purpose:
I hope to dissect the differences that students according to their grade level come to the writing center.

Detailed statement of research question: Does a students academic level determine what they go to the writing center for?


Information to gather: Detailed analysis of what the tutor found problems with in a students work, the grade level of student, and what the student thinks they need help with.

Preliminary list of sources:
Persons in Process by Anne Herrington and Marcia Curtis
observation of students


Plan for gathering information:
Asking the student why they came to the writing center for, trying to see what their writing problems are, and seeing if a senior student comes to the writing center for the same reason as a freshman student.

Blog 16:

well guess what! i finally did my first tutoring session today. the girl was in ESL and came in for help with a marketing paper that she already wrote. she wanted help with her grammer, but on reading her paper, i realized she needed ALOT of help with structure and organization, her grammer was fine, it was also plagiarized. reading what she wrote as opposed to what she copied and pasted there was a definite difference. her structure was ok, since the professor didnt have a clear assignment sheet (basically it said 5-10 pages, include this and that- economy, resources, politics etc 12 pt. font) i didnt know if this was an official paper, had to be cited, footnoted, titled etc. She came in with no introduction or conclusion (guess she couldnt plagiarize that) and didnt know how to write one either. surprisingly, her paper was ok, but had no organization whatsoever. there were sentences that did not belong at all, (ex: colombia has one of the most dense countries with 123e4sdf823sdee4 people per square mile. religion: roman catholic 94.5%. ... next paragraph) she went from speaking of geography to history to location to resources to culture without any way of leading into the next paragraph.
when dr. chandler pointed out that her entire paper was plargrized, she completely SHUT DOWN! it was amazing how her body language changed so quickly and turned against us! it was easier to give her concrete ideas and examples, rules of linguistics (some tips i learned from being in ESL myself) rather than explaining that it doesnt sound right and why did you write it that way? i had to repeat some things i felt a million times because she didn't write them down as i said them, and i felt like she didnt understand alot of what i said, even though i used the most simple language and used tips i learned from my teachers.
i went over the time by 10 minutes, so i have to pay attention to the time. i dont think i ever did not know what to do, i was surprised how easy tutoring actually was, but she was a harder student than i was anticipating.

Blog 14/15:

ok so this is a hard blog..lets see.....
i will definantly use my books for this...and these sites, if applicable:

Peer Tutoring in a Graduate Writing Centre: Identity, Expertise, and Advice Resisting.Citation Only AvailableBy: Hansun Zhang Waring. Applied Linguistics, Jun2005, Vol. 26 Issue 2, p141-168, 28p; (AN 20123074)
this site is for students that are graduates, helping undergrads

Persons and Progress by Martha Curtis, if a copy can be found (thanks Dr. Chandler!)

i think ill try to do my paper also on gender differences, to see if males and females go to the WC for the same reasons and if their progress through the grade levels is different

im still looking for a good site or book for problems in the WC, what grade level goes to the WC and for what? and does gender play a role in who goes to the WC?

Blog 13:

Body language is extremely important during a tutoring session, no, thats an under statement, its one of the things you should always pay attention too. It one of those things that you unconscienclessly notice, but when you REALLY pay attention to it, you can find that body language can say more than a thousand words. I would really like to do my paper on body language, however, it seems like too much could be said bc its such a broad topic. Body language is an unspoken answer to alot of questions in the tutoring center. I know i will definitly be looking at body language when i tutor!

blog 12:

so during a conversation with Dr. Chandler, ive decided to do my final paper on the different problems students come to the writing center for. I realized that fresh mens needs and problems are very different than the more experienced upperclassmen. i think that freshman come to the writing center for topics, paper structure, form, and ideas, while upperclassman come for the grammatical and proofreading "stuff" . Is this true? Who knows. But ill try to find out!!!
Ill try to do this by asking the student to fill out the questionare at the back of the book, instead of directly asking them about their age or educational background.