final paper 4

Discussion:
Throughout the semester, the tutor was able to research reasons why college students came to the Writing Center. The Writing Center is open to all students who need help with writing, regardless of major or profession. It is ironic to find college students helping other college students without proper certification or knowledge. As John Trimbur states in his essay “Peer Tutoring: A Contradiction in Terms?”, “…students do not possess the expertise and credentials-the professional standing- to help their peer learn to write” (Barnett 289). Often, the tutor stumbles over an example or a discussion and does not know how to help his student. The tutor needs enough knowledge of writing to help those in a higher grade level, as their problems become more precise. A tutor can easily help freshmen, as their writing problems are broad and their questions are easily answered. Freshmen come to the WC to get help understanding and starting their assignment. Upperclassmen, especially those outside of English composition classes, need help with grammar and punctuation, they understand their assignments but need someone to proof read and make their paper more concise. They collaborate with their tutor and take criticism well and take full ownership and responsibility for their work.
The most outstanding difference between freshmen and upperclassmen who came to the WC was that freshman were not prepared to write; they were timid and insecure, they need guidance in every step of their writing, while upperclassmen are prepared and know what they need help with. The three freshmen I was able to tutor expected a lot more guidance from the tutor, and more explanation. The tutor had to take the lead in the session as the freshmen were insecure and clueless. Upperclassmen were eager to work with a tutor and were prepared with the assignment already written. They wanted to focus on grammar and sentence structure and the details of their papers rather than how to write a thesis sentence.
Limitations:
As this study was conducted in about a month’s time, the tutor was only about to see seven students for sessions. With a larger sample of students, results would be more concrete. All three freshmen needed help with papers for an English composition course while upperclassmen asked for help in their own majors. Other limitations include the tutor not having the necessary knowledge or experience of helping the students, which caused the sessions to run over time, or not get a lot accomplished. Some might question the motives of ESL students in the writing center, this research is not complete with enough data to include that category.
Conclusion:
The reasons for coming to the Writing Center vary upon grade level and assignment. Freshmen come to be tutored either by requirement or a last hope to pass a course. Freshmen are insure with their writing, and often do not understand the assignment, they have to be guided through their entire paper. They ask vague questions and require more time with their tutor. Some students did not even read the required text and expect their tutor to write the paper for them.
Upperclassmen come to the writing center eager and prepared to get a paper critiqued. They know what to expect, and ask about the details of writing, such as grammar and punctuation. Very seldom did they have questions about citations or thesis statements.
One of the major differences between the two groups is that upperclassmen know what to expect from their professors, they have the experience and sureness in their writing that make them more willing to work with a tutor. As one of the case studies show, Kendra and Christine had extremely few errors, they came to the writing center to make their presentation flawless; freshmen just want to get by with a decent grade.
While one might question differences of ESL students coming to the WC and native speakers, there is no difference of writing knowledge depending on grade level. In this study however, there were not enough English as a second language students to work with, therefore, this study is not fully complete.
Overall, there are many reasons why college students come to the writing center. Through this research, one can see that freshmen motives differentiate greatly than upperclassmen. There still remains research to be done on English as a second language students coming to the Writing center, and a larger group of students would lead to greater conclusions and insight behind students reasoning. Also, if a tutor can ask his students any questions without being offensive, if this was a true study and not observation or simple questions, this project would reveal true and honest motives, not assumptions from the tutor or half answered questions from the students.