Research Rationale

1) Topic and Motivation: My time as a tutor was a great learning experience that definitely prepared me for teaching writing. Therefore, I’m going to write a conference paper on how the knowledge I have gained working as a tutor in a Writing Center translates for me most effectively into the one-to-one conferences I have with my students as a writing instructor. However, while I find one-to-one conferences with my students to be most like my experience working in the Writing Center, I would also like to talk about how my experience helped me to teach students the difference between revision and editing. Often students enter the first year writing classroom without a clear idea of either process. During in and out of class activities and lectures throughout the semester, students in my class work to define for themselves what it means to revise and to edit. These activities and lectures were specifically designed because of my training and experience as a tutor.

2) To research this, I will examine academic books and articles that articulate the connectedness between tutoring writing and teaching writing. Particularly, I will research texts that relate to teaching revision and editing strategies. I will try to answer questions such as: what are the best practices in the writing center that can be applied to teaching writing, specifically in one-to-one conferences and in revising/editing essays? In what ways do writing center theories/texts offer teachers of writing ways of engaging students in the classroom? I will also examine my own practices in order to show my own connections. If I have time, I might talk with other instructors, particularly grad students who were trained in the writing center and who have had similar experiences.

3) The final product will be an 8-10 page conference paper, which I will present to the class.

4) Questions for you: Is there anyway to search The Writing Center Journal without subscribing? I can’t remember if or which article we read that mentioned another article about the position graduate students are put in since they are tutors, students, and teachers. Does anyone remember this article?

5) Problems: Since this is a conversation that has been going on for a long time, I think it will be hard to read and analyze everything that has been said before. However, I’m hoping that by relating it to my own experience, I’ll be able to say something that is unique.