The UConn Writing Center

I too like working at the Writing Center

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 19:44:53 -0400

I’m graduating in seven weeks. Fifty days from now, I’ll have tutored for the last time in my life. Not really though…

9 weeks from now I’ll start school all over again, pursuing teacher certification and a masters degree in education. I’ve decided that I like helping people to learn enough to make a career out of it. While teaching high school English seems like a natural fit to me now, it didn’t two years, or even 10 months ago. Working at the Writing Center has helped me realize my own career goals and aspirations in a way that I could never have expected when I submitted an application two years ago.

In the spring of 2011, I had recently changed majors from Biomedical Engineering to Landscape Architecture to English (confusing I know). While strolling through the halls of CLAS, I spotted a flier seeking applicants for tutoring positions at the Writing Center. The next week one of my only friends in the English major asked me if I planned to apply. She mentioned that she would be applying and urged me to do so as well.

Four weeks later my phone rang while I sat in front of a computer at my work study job:

“Tommmmm (sniffle, sniffle), I didn’t get the job. (Sigh, Sniffle, Sniffle)” my English major friend shouted through the phone.

“I’m sorry to hear that, but I’m sort of at work right now, can I call- actually, I’ll stop by your room after work and we can cry together?”

“Sounds perfect.”

As I continued completing menial tasks, I thought to myself, if she didn’t get the position then I can be pretty sure I didn’t get it. Oh well, looks like another year of minimum wage. I guess I’ll try again next year.

And then, my phone rang again.

“Hello is this Thomas?”

“Uhhh, yeah?”

“I’m pleased to inform you that the Writing Center would like to hire you as a tutor for next year, are you still interested?”

My heart skipped a beat. I mean, I was happy don’t get me wrong, but more than anything, I was completely shocked. I couldn’t believe they wanted to hire me.

After a year of tutoring, a year of spending time helping others improve their writing, a year learning new skills, meeting new people, and working with writing, I’d started to think that I might want to be a teacher. When a graduate assistant with the Writing Center asked me if I’d want to be a fellow (like a hybrid tutor/TA) for English 1010S the next year, I jumped at the opportunity.

The experience I had with that program cemented any ideas that I had to become a high school teacher. Developing creative lesson plans, getting to know students on a personal level and watching them improve day in and day out was something I enjoyed. I liked it so much, I’ve decided to make a career of it. Without my position in the program or my experience as a tutor with the Writing Center, I might not have discovered this passion.

While I found out that I wanted to be a teacher largely due to my experiences at the Writing Center, the position is as much about learning as it is teaching. I’ve learned pedagogy and gained valuable, hand on experiences working with students, but one of the most rewarding parts of the job in my opinion is learning about the people who visit our office. The most interesting things often have little to do with writing. During this semester alone, I’ve learned about the city of Ho Chi Minh, I’ve listened to a story about travelling to Antarctica and eating fish straight from the ocean, and I’ve been taught about the complex Californian food-web that exists between bighorn sheep, mountain lions, and the now locally extinct grizzly bear. You never know who is going to come through the doors each day, what you will learn, or what you will take home from each tutoring session. That aspect of the job, among all others, might be my favorite.

My work at the Writing Center has been an invaluable learning experience from start to finish. I’d encourage anyone to consider applying— you never know what you might learn about yourself, others, or the world around you.

I like working at the Writing Center

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 20:40:27 -0400

UConn’s Writing Center is hiring, and my bosses asked me to write something up to encourage students to apply for tutoring positions. I’m obviously at a loss for catchy titles or inspirational pictures (although I do like this image for some reason), so “I’m gonna to give it ya, with no trivia.” Note: The Writing Center does not officially endorse the use of Wu-Tang lyrics in their recruiting materials.

Why I like working at the Writing Center (in no particular order)

The tutors are students who are interested in writing, and they generally care. No, really, that is a big one. They care about school, they care about helping each other, they care about their writing, and they care about doing a good job. I couldn’t say that about my coworkers when I was a professional, and I can’t always say that about my classmates as a grad student. I can say that about the tutors (and the faculty & staff) at the Writing Center.
I’ve learned a ton about writing since working here. I’ve been through 4 years of undergrad, 2.5 of master’s work, and 5 of Ph.D. work - and I’ve learned an immeasurable amount from our training workshops, from talking to student writers, and from the tutors around me. I’ve become a better writer and I’m much better at giving non-directive feedback to my peers. I’ve also learned much about using writing to teach, crafting writing assignments, and teaching writing when I put on my other hat as a TA instructor.
It is nice to know that you’re helping people. It sounds a little cheesy, but some sessions are wildly fulfilling. When we’ve asked writers about their sessions, they often tell us that it is nice to have someone to talk to that cares about their academic success, and that they connect (even if briefly) on a personal level with our tutors. UConn is a large (and cold!) campus, and it is feels good to work in a place that is known for being warm to students.
One time, a writer that kept visiting me brought me a coffee.

OK, that is all from me. Tutors - feel free to share your reasons/stories/etc in follow up posts.

Application information is here.

Writing The Extra 2%

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 16:24:31 -0500

I just came back from the Sloan Sports Analytics Conference in Boston (humble brag?), which is widely attended by pro-sports decision makers and ESPN affiliates.

Grantland’s stable of writers was in attendance and had a booth, and stopped by to try to initiate some awkward conversations from time to time. I can position myself close enough to get on the outskirts of a conversation and over hear, but then I need a little eye contact or pause to signal me to come in. The signal never came, but that didn’t stop my from trying.

I was trying to chat with Bill Barnwell, and ended up talking to one of the Grantland editors (Chris Ryan, maybe?). I asked him a bit about writer productivity and if he had a sense of the writers’ approaches to deadlines and, well, writing. The editor said that Grantland is pretty flexible and doesn’t mess with the process as long as the writers hit their deadlines. He mentioned that Barnwell writes 6 days a week, which results in a ton of columns for the site. Our conversation ran dry and Barnwell was still swarmed, so I moved on.

As Day 1 of the conference ended, I saw Barnwell go by with Jonah Keri - another Grantland guy and the author of The Extra 2%, a sort of 2nd generation Moneyball.

I asked again about writing, and Jonah said that the secret to writing is just to write. Don’t make excuses, just get it on paper. He said that is approach to writing the book was very different to writing his Grantland columns, and that he made sure to write pages every single day for the book. Another ESPN/Grantland writer came by (I missed his name and couldn’t risk breaking eye contact to stare towards his badge), and said that he and his friends call it “typing” because they set aside time to actually perform the physical act. They were all running off to dinner, so I didn’t get any more elaboration on that - but I took that to mean typing didn’t allow for downtime in front of the computer, and that typing meant keeping the fingers going and actually producing words on the page.

I never got a response out of Barnwell, but his columns about Las Vegas did lead me to find a pretty good pizza place the last time I was there - so all is forgiven.

The First Passaggio

Sat, 15 Dec 2012 18:07:14 -0500

This is probably one of my favorite performances of this aria from the Turandot opera. The way Pavarotti mixed technical precision and exact phrasing to create such an artistic performance is something that I will never fathom, and personally, I don’t believe we will see another person on the planet who can bring everything together like Pavarotti could. At an earlier point in time, however, I did not share this opinion. There was once a time when I could not fully appreciate a performance like this one, and even scoffed at how unnatural and produced the opera voice sounded. In the beginning of my training as a singer, I would listen to recordings of stars such as Pavarotti or Bjorling, and then listen to recordings of myself. Afterward, I would wonder why they would distort their voices to make it sound so operatic, and most pressingly, how I could do the same. But that’s all I thought it was, some distortion of what is natural and instinctive to the human voice.

With greater understanding of a subject comes humbleness. Understanding, luckily, is something I am getting an excess of here at UConn. Admitedly, my first few months of musical tutelage were filled with failed attempts at artificially creating the sound I desired, which was met with stern remarks from my teacher. Only when I stopped trying to fight the process and started implicitly going along with the techniques I was being taught, did I start to understand just how far I had to go until my voice would even begin to start sounding like those of opera fame. The understanding of the specific processes that happen when singing occurs and an appreciation for the coordination it takes had finally dawned on me.

Now that I have gone on for sufficiently long enough about my experiences as a student of classical voice, I can answer this question: why is a writing center tumblr post going on at length about music? Well, thinking back on my experience thus far as a music student while pondering the knowledge I’ve gained from working at the writing center allowed me to realize just how closely related are these two avenues of my education. Just as writing was once a seemingly magical and mysterious process to me, so was the art of singing. As I gain knowledge in both areas, that mysticism seems to chip away, little by little. Is that to say that singing has lost its luster as well, then? No, not at all. In fact, the increase in technique and sheer ability has only made the endeavor more rewarding, and it has given me freedom of expression that had previously been limited by my lack of skill. After my first semester as a writing tutor, I can say that I have definitely improved as not only a tutor of writing, but as a writer. However, I don’t think I’ve reached the same point as I have in my vocal studies. I am certainly beginning to unveil some of the mystery behind the writing process, but have I arrived at the point where I can feel the same limitlessness in expression as I feel I have achieved as a singer? The answer to that question, too, is no. I still feel hindered by a lack in mastery of language, as if there is still a barrier not yet broken.

The point in a singer’s upper vocal range where their voice seems to “stop” or “crack” is referred to as the first passaggio in classical voice technique. Before you are able to negotiate this area of the voice, your range feels limited and it seems as if you will never be able to achieve the things you want of your voice. For my writing, I feel as though that is where I stand – yet to have broken through that first passaggio.

Good luck on finals everyone!!!!

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 12:03:44 -0500

Good luck on finals everyone!!!!

Let's Talk About Citations: An Adventure in Bibliography

Sat, 08 Dec 2012 17:36:00 -0500

What is the single most painstaking, deliberate, and often frustrating part of the writing process? In this writer’s opinion, it’s creating a bibliography. An essential part of any research, collaborative, analytical, or investigatory project (among any other work in which the writer uses someone else’s information, words, ideas, or opinions), bibliographies and, just as important, in-text citations can cause frustration, confusion, and despair in any writer. But that does not have to be the case!

I am an English major, so I love writing and even creating bibliographies! In my field, I use MLA 7^th edition citations. This means that I use the Modern Language Association’s 7^th edition rules for citing ideas, phrases, words, pictures, graphs, data, etc. that are not mine in my papers and projects. Due to my experience in this particular style, I will focus on it in this post; however, other styles of citation are just as effective (APA, Chicago, etc.) and essential in their respective fields. The Writing Center’s website has a link to resources for all these different styles, so make sure to check it out: http://writingcenter.uconn.edu/s_cite.php.

In this post, I hope to assuage some of the fear and stress that can surround citations/bibliographies, answer some common questions about citations/bibliographies, and provide a couple of resources that are invaluable in tackling citations/bibliographies.

To preface the rest of this post, I will NOT be giving a lesson on how to use MLA citations. Rather, I will be looking at particular instances that cause people trouble when using MLA. Additionally, because I will be creating hypothetical examples, my example citations will NOT have the author names, page numbers, line numbers, act/scenes, etc. which are ALWAYS included in real citations, so please forgive my imperfections! I will be showing them as: ([citation]).

Let’s begin with some common questions that, as a tutor at the Writing Center, I get asked on a regular basis:

Q: When should I use in-text citations?

A: You should use in-text citations every time that you use a use a quote, paraphrase, idea, opinion, figure, statistic, image, or other information that is not your own. Did you read it from a book? Was it on TV? Did someone say it to you? Was it online? Did you learn it from referencing your source material? If the answer to any of these questions is “yes!”, then you MUST cite it in-text.

Q: If I am going to be summarizing a passage from a book in more than one sentence, do I have to put an in-text citation after each sentence in my paragraph?

A: No! This answer has three parts. 1) If you include the name of the source material in the regular text, you do not need an in-text citation because it becomes redundant. 2) If you do not mention the original source material, you only need one in-text citation after the final sentence of cited material. 3) If you are citing the material, then adding your own analysis, then citing again, you should put your in-text citation after each of the cited material but not after your own analysis. Here are some examples of when to include or not include in-text citations. Again, I will use the example citation that I mentioned above because I am not referencing an actual manuscript.

1) If I were to summarize Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet in three sentences, I might write in my paragraph:

Romeo and Juliet meet. Their families fight a lot. Then the two heroes die due to a lot of confusion and their very strong love ([citation]).

2) If I were summarizing Shakespeare with the same three sentences but inserting my opinion amongst them:

Romeo and Juliet meet. Their families fight a lot ([citation]). The fight scenes can be really cool. Then the two heroes die due to a lot of confusion and their very strong love ([citation]).

3) Finally, if I were to mention Shakespeare’s name I would not have to include an in-text citation, so the paragraph would look like this:

In William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Romeo and Juliet meet. Their families fight a lot. Then the heroes die due to a lot of confusion and their very strong love.

Now, this is certainly not exemplary writing or a particularly interesting or accurate summary of Shakespeare; HOWEVER, it does exemplify setting up what my paragraph will be citing and how to incorporate my citation after all the relevant sentences.

Q: How do I cite a movie in an in-text citation?

A: Use the director’s name for a movie currently in theaters or on DVD/Blu-ray. If the movie was originally released as a TV movie, use the movie title. Check out this site on citing materials that are not books or articles: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/09/.

Q: My source material does not have an author. How do I cite it in-text?

A: This varies depending on the information you do have on your source and you must refer back to your bibliography to determine this. In a bibliographic listing, the order of information listed is usually author/interviewee, section/article/chapter title, source/collection/book title, etc. In-text, use whatever information you listed first within your in-text citation. For example, if you are referring to an article you found online called “Citations Rule” but it does not have an author, you would put the article title in your in-text citations: (“Citations Rule”).

Q: I’m citing a website: do I need to include the URL on my bibliography page? It’s so long!

A: No! When the internet was new, people used to include the URL in citations. However, in the most recent edition of the MLA handbook, URL’s are NOT included in bibliographies. This is very convenient because URL’s can be long and clunky and do not provide the essential information about the website.

Now, what are some common resources which can help you with citations? Please refer to the Writing Center website for a very comprehensive list: http://writingcenter.uconn.edu/s_cite.php. When I create my own citations, my top three go-to sites are:

1) the Purdue OWL website on MLA rules: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/

2) EasyBib: http://www.easybib.com/

3) The UConn libraries website (all of it is wonderful), but in particular the reference website: http://www.lib.uconn.edu/instruction/citing.html

The Purdue OWL site provides information on how to create both bibliographies and how to format in-text citations for a wide number of sources. It is an excellent source to answer any question, long or short, about how to correctly cite your sources. It also provides information for other styles of citation, like APA. Please use it!

Easybib is an English nerd’s best friend. It provides you with the means to create your bibliographies by filling in the correct fields with the source’s information. Additionally, it can save time by allowing you to type in an article name, book ISBN number, or website URL to then automatically find its correct bibliographical information. It’s free, and it has a smartphone app which allows you to scan books to find their citation information. Simply put, it is AMAZING.

Lastly, the UConn libraries website is a treasure trove for all UConn students. It’s reference site is fabulous for providing information about how to create citations. Additionally, the databases, access to UConn’s print catalog, and instant messaging with UConn librarians are just three other resources available. As a UConn student, familiarizing yourself with this site will make future projects much easier.

I find that with these three websites I am able to effectively create my bibliographies and correctly use in-text citations. The task of creating my bibliography becomes easy and satisfying. With a completed bibliography and in-text citations, you can feel confident that you give credit where credit is due and effectively incorporate your own analysis and ideas into those of people who have come before you.

Now, as finals approach, feel free to use the resources available to you online, in the library, and at the Writing Center. Don’t let citations get you down! There are people (like me) who enjoy the nitpicky work of creating and organizing a bibliography and are eager to work with you. Bibliographies allow you to enter the academic world as a voice willing to collaborate, discuss, and debate. You can do it!

Citations:

EasyBib. “Don’t Let Your Friend Handwrite a Bibliography.” Message to the author. 19 Nov. 2012. E-mail.

Bridging the Age Gap

Tue, 04 Dec 2012 20:13:00 -0500

They say age is just a number. A gap in years between two people means nothing; all that matters is that those two people can communicate, can connect on some level that transcends one’s birth year. Just look at Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones.

http://www.justjared.com/2012/04/17/catherine-zeta-jones-michael-douglas-monte-cristo-award-couple/

Demi and Ashton (pre-split).

http://www.crushable.com/2011/10/24/entertainment/ashton-kutcher-calls-out-the-blogosphere-for-speculating-on-his-marriage-to-demi-moore-634/

Courtney Stodden and Doug Hutchison.

http://www.mommyish.com/2011/09/24/are-courtney-stoddens-parents-proud-that-she-would-study-her-husband-at-college-723/

Okay maybe it’s best not to look at Courtney Stodden and Doug Hutchison.

But what about tutors and tutees? Does an age gap between W Center tutor and student writer make a difference in the effectiveness of a session? Does a sophomore tutor feel uneasy telling a senior how to write a thesis statement?

As I round out my first semester as a W Center tutor, I have had more than a few sessions where I, as a 20-year-old junior, have felt odd, if not outright uncomfortable working with students whose graduation and/or birth year predates my own. My sensitivity to age differences might stem in part from a lingering feeling of being “new” to the job, as I continue to learn the ropes of effective tutoring.

Now, according to the widespread Writing Center philosophy, the “tutors” at the W Center do not (or should not) espouse themselves as tutors in the traditional sense – that is, we do not assume our superiority in any aspect of writing. We are here instead as “sounding boards” for the writer’s thoughts, with whom the writer can converse about his or her ideas. In fact, the thought that it might be, well, weird to work with someone older did not occur to me until the first appointment I had with a senior. The sense of unease, for the most part, is not produced by the student writer; rather, I’m fairly certain it is my own sensitivity to the age issue that sources most of my concern.

One unique example from early on in the semester, in an appointment I had with a 27-year-old freshman. He had spent the past seven years serving in the military, and after arriving home, he spent time with his wife and kids before starting college.

Talk about life experience.

I thought back to what I did between high school and college.

Oh, that’s right. A whole lot of nothing.

You might be able to imagine the hesitation I felt in telling this man, this husband and father, this military veteran, how to write a good thesis sentence. Let alone advising him to avoid first person usage.

Because hey, if you spent the better part of a decade fighting for our country’s freedom, I think you should be able to use whatever person you darn well please.

But that’s just me. His Freshman English professor might be less forgiving on the grammatical front.

The session ended up running smoothly and, I would say, normally. He was simply looking for someone to dialogue with about his writing, and that I could certainly offer, just as I would to any other student writer. In this case, the writing was discrete from age and life experience, about which we could communicate on an even level.

Yet my sentiments regarding the age difference were later hypostatized when I was filling in for graduate-student Jorge. His first appointment walked in, I introduced myself, and the writer, a senior, asked if I was a graduate student. When I answered in the negative, she declined to continue the session, explaining that she preferred to work her graduate school personal statement with someone who had already been through the process. I agreed wholly with her reasoning, saying I would do the same if I was in her shoes.

What I’m suggesting, then, is that, feelings aside, there is a practical element in the tutor-tutee relationship or dynamic, just as the tutor’s academic background is often considered when a student makes an appointment. A senior tutor will probably have taken more W courses, and will accordingly have more experience with the process of W course writing. A graduate student will, of course, be most well-versed in graduate school applications, and may have the most experience in thesis writing. These qualities and qualifications are not universal, but from my experience so far, they seem to be pretty consistent.

However, sessions like the one with the 27-year-old freshman have reinforced the notion that writing can be its own point of conversation, one that virtually any two writers (read: those who write) can connect with and dialogue about. I wonder if my fellow tutors and writers have had the same sentiments I’ve experienced when working with writers of different years or ages. The goal, I think, of the W Center tutor – and this is nothing new – is to work with the writer first; if we can also work with the mechanical engineering major, the law school applicant, or the military veteran, then the session may be even more engaging. But at the end of the day, the writing is the common ground, the basal link between tutor and writer. It is Michael and Catherine’s shared passion for golf. Demi and Ashton’s aesthetic splendor. Courtney and Doug’s…

Yeah, I got nothing.

Newbie Tutors and Newbie Writers

Tue, 04 Dec 2012 17:59:00 -0500

What is the common trait between a third of this semester’s Writing Center tutors and a large portion of writers that come here? We’re both newbies. About 1/3 of the staff this year are new recruits, eagerly absorbing tutoring techniques from our peers, faculty director, and other Writing Center staff (http://writingcenter.uconn.edu/our_staff.php) and then incorporating them into our own methods. We learn all of these ideas about Writing Centers in readings from a practicum on writing theory and tutoring that all new tutors take, and then actually get a chance to observe them in their natural habitat, the second floor of Homer Babbidge. Do we engage in a writer’s request for grammar lessons? Do we tell writers that their premise is not politically correct? Do we dare touch someone’s writing with our infamous red pen like writing scholar Steven North warns us not to?

Just as new tutors face a wide range of tutoring philosophy concerns, I would imagine that FYE students coming to us for the first time have just as many worries about the Writing Center. Many of the appointments of the Writing Center’s full schedule have been for FYE (http://www.fye.uconn.edu/) event reflections. So much so, that I’ve recognized my incredibly generic template coming out in every tutor note I write for FYE appointments. These students are new to UConn, new to university level writing, and new to the ways of the Writing Center.

So what happens when they meet? Is it just inexperience meeting with inexperience? Or is it new ideas meeting open-minded new college students? I sat down with a fellow newbie tutor with a reputation for having successful FYE sessions. He agreed with the idea that FYE sessions are necessary for writers to get to know that the Writing Center exists and recognize that there is a resource for them whenever any issues come up throughout the writing process. It can be really difficult to engage in a meaningful conversation about writing with FYE students for many different reasons; the student is shy, doesn’t like to read out loud, feels uncomfortable in the area, or just plain doesn’t care about the assignment. However, we can have a conversation about the writing process in general. My fellow newbie tutor said, “A FYE session should be a microcosm for a real tutoring session,” and can happen even with a cultural reflection paper. He says that during his FYE sessions, most of the conversation is about the writing process in general or about a different piece of writing that has more depth.

Essentially, isn’t this exactly why FYE students are required to make appointments? Talking about the cultural reflection paper can only last so long…we all know this. Perhaps if we, as newbie tutors, engaged the newbie college level writers more about their actual writing processes, we would be making better use of our time and helping those students to develop as writers….

Linked in

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 16:04:13 -0500

A last-minute cancellation gave me a little time to come back to our Tumblr account, and I started to search tags for “writing center” posts.

The search turned up a few nice reflections from tutors like “afros&prose”, who not only has a great Tumblr name, but rich content to boot.

There are some pretty snarky ones like “writingcenterproblems” that are good for a laugh (if a little mean-spirited). Of course, I’m guessing that they are just exagerrating for entertainment value - a tutor would never think or feel those things…

I jumped over to Twitter to see @stanfordhwc out of Stanford’s Writing Center, and then there’s a blog I keep coming back to at http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/

Where do you go for writing online? UConn tutors - feel free to make your own Tumblr posts with your faves.

Thoughts on writing retreats

Mon, 12 Nov 2012 11:36:00 -0500

There’s just something about the silence in a large room. Something about the sheer impossibility of silence, it seems, when there are 40+ graduate students sitting arm’s length apart. But yet: that silence—punctuated only by the tapping sounds of fingers on keyboards and the flipping of book pages—set the atmosphere for the October graduate student writing retreat.

There’s something beautiful about silence. It is cleansing somehow, especially when I’m not attached to Facebook, Twitter, e-mail and my cell phone. The thing that works about coming together as a group to write is that in that silence, all you can feel is the peer pressure to stay on task that inspires you to, well, write.

It’s sad, but even though I have an MFA in creative writing and call myself a writer, sometimes I’d still rather stick my hand down a toilet than sit down at my laptop. Cleaning my apartment has become a writing ritual of sorts. Rather than organizing my notes, I scrub the bathroom.Just in case someone comes by, I tell myself. But I’m a graduate student who lives in a rural town 30 minutes away from campus. And presumably my professors are going to want to see my finished paper, not my sparkling apartment. But alas. We all do something to procrastinate in the name of bigger and better causes, right? For some, it’s cooking, for others, it’s organizing their desks meticulously or taking copious amounts of notes.

But whatever it is, it’s banished at a writing retreat. In my not-very-authoratative-but-somehow-convincing voice, I told the participants in October not to go on Facebook or take phone calls. I was told later that those few words inspired compliance—and as a result, most participants who emailed me later told me they had nearly doubled their usual productivity per hour in number of pages written.

For those who don’t like the quiet, there is the solace of music piped in through headphones. But for me? I’ll take silence, the peer pressure of watching someone else’s page count grow as I work steadily on ahead, free for a few blissful hours of any outside distractions.

Writing Retreats are just one way the Writing Center is answering the call for writing support from the graduate student community at UConn. We’re planning another one for November 30, and more next semester. There’s also the possibility of a dissertation boot camp in January. And if you’re looking for something more, you can always check out the Writing Center’s graduate student page to see the ways the Writing Center is reaching out to grad students.

WC Web Surfing

Wed, 05 Sep 2012 16:24:00 -0400

Our tutors might have a little downtime in the very beginning of the semester - this is a good time to poke around the Writing Center’s webpage. There’s a number of resources and handouts that you probably don’t know are there, and they can come in pretty handy during tutoring sessions.

The section on Organizing Your Paper (http://www.writingcenter.uconn.edu/s_org.php) has some 1-2 page handouts on developing arguments, strengthening a thesis, and avoiding plagiarism. This might be especially useful during FYE sessions.

Writing for Psychology (http://www.writingcenter.uconn.edu/s_psychology.php) really applies to social sciences in general. Psych, comm, and sociology students might appreciate how to read a journal article, how to summarize articles, and how to write a lit review.

The Bio section (http://www.writingcenter.uconn.edu/s_biology.php) covers lab reports and organization for research papers.

Writing for Economics (http://www.writingcenter.uconn.edu/s_economics.php) is also worth your time (get it?).

Browse around so that you can direct writers there, and you might end up finding something out about Writing Workshops, research, or our policies.

Learning Style(z)

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 16:47:00 -0400

Matt* and Christine gave an abridged version of their learning styles presentation to the rest of the tutoring staff last night, and there was a lot of discussion about learning styles and how they might impact tutoring.

I had some downtime during a shift and skimmed a few journal articles that cited Gregorc and his measure (the same one that Matt and Christine used in their research). Zollinger and Martinson (2010) studied undergrads majoring in design to see if they had a learning style preference. Their implications for design teachers might apply to tutors, too:

“Knowledge of learning styles is an important for design educators. Because learning style affects the learning success of students in specific kinds of situations, instructors need to be sensitive to learning style differences. Workshops on recognizing student learning styles should be offered to instructors where they can gain knowledge about learning styles by having their own learning style assessed. Because as Dunn and Dunn (1979) suggested, instructors tend to teach the way they learn, special attention should be given as to how their learning style may affect their teaching and the students’ learning.” (p. 12)

Tom and Christine asked us what we thought about tutors recognizing their own styles and trying to adapt to writers. I think that Zollinger and Martinson warn against teachers teaching to their own style, as if they thought the class was made up of their own clones. Tutors might want to recognize that what works for them might not work well for others.

As for adaptability, tutors might consider switching their delivery or technique if it isn’t landing with the writer. Maybe that writer needs to diagram and make webs, but that one needs to talk through it, while that other one needs to do some reflective writing - all in order to make the same point.

Here is their breakdown of styles from Zollinger and Martinson:

Concrete sequential:

Derive information through direct, hands-on experience -“seeing is believing”
Appreciate order & logical sequence
Prefer touchable, concrete materials
Ordered, step- by-step presentations help
Workbooks, computer-assisted instruction, & assembly kits are appropriate

Concrete random:

Experimental attitudes
Seeing what “makes things tick”
Trial-and-error and risk-taking approaches while exploring unstructured problemsolving situations
Need guidance but not domination
They like games, simulations, independent study projects, brainstorming, and optional reading assignments

Abstract sequential:

excellent decoding abilities with written, verbal, & imagery symbols
Like to use reading, listening, & visual skills
Like sequential and logical presentations such as slides & lectures
Appreciate extensive reading assignments, lectures, & analytical “thinking sessions”
Excel in organizing & analyzing research and debating ideas

Abstract random:

Emotional and imaginative
Learn holistically & prefer unstructured learning experiences (e.g., group discussions & webbing)
Like a busy environment and prefer freedom from rules and guidelines
This type of learner organizes material through reflection

*In the earlier version of this, I mixed Tom and Vishal’s discussion with Matt and Christine’s and kept referring to “Tom and Christine’s discussion”. I hope, in time, that I can earn forgiveness.

Scene: The Writing Center at the library Characters: 1) Writer-...

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 16:40:07 -0500

Scene: The Writing Center at the library

Characters: 1) Writer- he’s a nice enough guy, and is of above average intelligence. He is motivated to earn a high grade on his paper for the social sciences.

2) Tutor - people say that he is “socially awkward”, that he “refuses to break eye contact”, and that he “scares small children”. But he knows a bit about writing for the social sciences.

Tutor - “Your citations are missing some of the formatting for APA style. Let’s talk about how to write those up in the text and we’ll pull some online references that you might want to bookmark.”

Writer - “I know that, but my instructor writes them this way, and he marked mine up last time. I’m going to keep them this way.”

Tutor - “Oh. OK. I also noticed that your draft kind of goes from topic to topic. Let’s talk about transitions and some ways you can link ideas.”

Writer - “I know. But my instructor cuts them. He eliminates my transitions, so I’m going to leave them out.”

Tutor - “Well then. Maybe we can talk about this …”

Writer - “Wrong again. I know that technique, but my instructor crosses that out. He says that only weak writers and lazy thinkers do that.”

(Note: repeat last two interactions over and over for the remainder of the 45-minute show)

OK, so that is a bit of an exagerration, but not too far from the scene that played out in a session last week. It was frustrating for me as a tutor, and I’m sure that it was frustrating for the writer, too.

I know that we all have had to struggle with really nuanced instructors that have their own *unique* way of handling writing, and we might not want to meet with them. But if it has to be “their way or the highway”, maybe we’ve got to go to them for feedback. Sometimes you need to get it from the horse’s mouth if you’re looking for feedback that is specific to your instructor/horse/botched analogy.

How have other tutors handled these types of extreme cases? What have writers found useful in these situations?

Starting the Puzzle

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 21:54:20 -0500

I had an appointment tonight with a dude who, simply put, completely botched the assignment for his English class. It was clear he misunderstood what a close reading entails, and as a result, wrote a paper that just did not accomplish what it needed to. Like Jonah Hill in Moneyball, I learned that the best way to break bad news to someone is in a quick, direct way so that you can move on and be as productive as possible.

After we got that bit of awkwardness out of the way, we eventually figured out the assignment and made sure that he knew what to do with his paper. (Side note: grad students need to learn that undergrads don’t get what it means when they say stuff like “how does the author respond to existing narratives of religion” when they really mean “compare and contrast a short story with the Bible.”)

Ultimately, I found that the best way to help him get started on his new version of the paper was just to show him an example of how it’s done. What I mean is that I found a bit of text he could analyze from the story and simply tell him a way to fit it into his argument. You could call what I did, “giving him a textual gift,” but it was more than that. The way that I looked at it was like this: if you have a jigsaw puzzle, you always start out by putting together the edges first, right? Then you move on to the much more difficult part, which is fitting in all the pieces in the middle.

What I did was put together the edges, and showed him a bare-bones version of the big picture. Now that I did that, he hopefully will be able to show his instructor what the completed puzzle looks like.

Resources for Writing Cover Letters

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:12:32 -0500

Lately, I’ve had a few appointments with students writing cover letters and realized that we don’t currently have a resource on our website for such writing. I’ve compiled a short list of some resources on writing cover letters that we can direct our tutees to. I have always found writing cover letters to be particularly daunting and I don’t believe I’m alone in that feeling… so I hope this proves to be helpful. J

To start, career services at UConn has some information on writing cover letters. You can also set up an appointment to discuss your letter.

University of Connecticut http://www.career.uconn.edu/cover_letters.html

The University of Purdue has a ton of great writing resources, and I found this website has a lot to offer.

University of Purdue ** http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/681/01/

Some of the sections include:

Cover Letters 1: Quick Tips

Cover Letters 2: Preparing to Write a Cover Letter

Cover Letters 3: Writing Your Cover Letter

Letters Concerning Employment

Academic Cover Letters

It also has resources for action verbs to describe skills, jobs and accomplishments as well as a large skills inventory that can be useful in generating ideas about what skills you want to highlight in your cover letter.

Here are a few others:

University of Wisconsin http://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/CoverLetters.html

University of California Berkeley (Dos and Don’ts of Cover Letters) https://career.berkeley.edu/tools/resume.stm

University of Kansas http://www.kucareerhawk.com/s/762/2column.aspx?sid=762&gid=1&pgid=310

If I come across some more, I’ll add to the list. Please feel free to add any other valuable resources for writing cover letters.

We don't really do that here... Or do we?

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 13:27:11 -0500

I recently had a session that reminded me to always keep an open view of our work at the writing center…

The session was with an ESL graduate student anxiously preparing to present a research article in her social networking course. It was her first time visiting the Writing Center and, in retrospect, I realize that I should have asked her how she heard about us or what she knew about us in order to get a better understanding of her views of the Writing Center as a resource (Remind me… why did we remove that question from the intake form???). Initially, I was hesitant to work with the student because she had no written assignment; there was no extensive writing required for her presentation-she simply needed advice on how to present. I’m thinking that assumed that someone at the Writing Center should be able to tell her how to talk about someone else’s writing (research article). Sensing that she had the wrong impression, I wanted to refer her back to her professor as I’m not well versed in the do’s and don’ts of presenting. I picked up on her anxiety and began to talk about typical sessions and how we help writers build confidence in their writing through conversation. It clicked to me that this process goes both ways-writing can build the confidence needed to talk about her research topic. She ended up pulling up an instructional email that her professor sent out; I explained some terms she was confused about and we made a checklist of the presentation criteria. That checklist turned into a basic presentation outline that we began to develop and apply to her article/topic. She plans to review the article in length and return to the Writing Center within the next week or so. I told her that she should think about running the outline by her professor and that I would be more than happy to be her audience in a mock presentation as she walked me through the developed outline.

I think I speak for all of us when I say writing is not only important when it’s assigned. After my MCB lectures I like to take at most 5 minutes to jot down at least 5 terms, phrases or concepts that were newly introduced in order to get me thinking. When exams are approaching, I sometimes force myself to do chapter or lecture summaries. Writing out our own ideas or putting others’ ideas in our own words helps to conceptualize and it’s a useful technique that we can convey to tutees.

How often do you guys have sessions with non-assigned or non-personal statement writing? Do you think we should encourage these type of sessions? I helped a student outline her presentation-in what other situations do you think we can encourage students to use writing as a technique?

Tutors are Writers Too

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 10:38:27 -0500

Our tutors have been making quite a literary splash lately, winning contests such as the Schreiber Collins Prize for Poetry and receiving grants, short fiction awards, and acceptances to academic conferences. Congratulations to all our writers and scholars!

Here’s another great way to get involved, get recognized, and share your ideas in an academic forum: our own Freshman English (FE) program is hosting its Seventh Annual Conference on the Teaching of Writing on Friday, April 6, 2012. The theme this year is “Representing Teaching and Writing Subjects” and Joseph Harris, Associate Professor of English at Duke University and author of Rewriting: How to Do Things with Texts and other books, will deliver the keynote address. FE welcomes submissions from instructors, tutors, and students that address issues pertinent to writing instruction from all disciplines and programs. The deadline is Monday, February 20. You can also find regularly updated information about this year’s conference at http://freshmanenglish.uconn.edu/instructors/conference/.

Can the real tutor note please stand up?

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 21:39:53 -0500

Tutors traditionally feel that writing a tutor note is a necessary evil. An unfortunate, bureaucracy mandated byproduct of every tutoring session. But as policy has changed, so must our attitudes about tutor notes. In the past, maybe 10% of our students asked to receive a copy of their tutor note. This statistical fact gave tutor notes little practical purpose other than as session receipts. With the new semester came a new policy on tutor notes and now it has become statistical fact that every student who walks through our doors will receive a copy of their tutor note. This change drastically alters the role of the tutor note from something like a receipt to something like a follow up session. If we as tutors have to write tutor notes and if students will inevitably get the messages, which as curious human beings, they will more than likely read (people LOVE to know what other people say about them, whether in tutor notes or Facebook walls), we should make good use of them. A tutor note as a record of the past, as a session summary does little good for tutor nor student. Tutor notes do not have to be retroactive and in fact, can be helpful tools for extending sessions. If you just worked on a personal statement for law school, include a link to our website’s page on personal statements or a link to the UConn Pre-Law workshop on applying to law school. If you just spent an hour working in verb-subject agreement or properly using articles, send your student links to the OWL pages on these subjects at the bottom of your standard note. If you helped a student with citations, send them a link to your favorite, credible, citation guide. The fact that these notes are sent as emails opens many doors for us. In seconds you can paste in a link that may make a major difference in a student’s writing. Taking the time to do so will not only give your notes purpose, but will advance our mission to not only improve writing, but to build stronger writers. I’ve pasted two examples below that I’ve used in the past:

Thomas came into the Writing Center today to work on a two and a half page essay for her freshman English class. He primarily wanted to work grammatical and sentence level concerns, but we also addressed larger organizational topics. We worked though his paper paragraph by paragraph: he would read aloud the entire paragraph and then we would run through sentence by sentence. We broke from this pattern in the middle of the session to work on transitioning between one thought to the next through the use of clauses or, at times, additional sentences. At the end of the session, we reviewed his most commonly repeated errors and used the margins of her paper to work through examples of noun verb agreement. We also talked a little bit (using examples in his work) about using prepositional phrases, using articles, and about making sure every sentence has a subject. I’d urge Thomas to use the notes on his paper in the future as a reference and to check out the following list of online resources that can help his work through some of the things we discussed.

Subject (Noun) Verb Agreement http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/599/01/

Prepositions http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/594/01/

Articles http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/540/1/

Thomas came into the Writing Center this afternoon to work on a personal statement for graduate school. Thomas said he had just begun the process of writing and revising his statement and sought our assistance in giving his statement a first review. He started the session by reading aloud. We then jumped into making sure he properly addressed the prompt. We planned out topics he could discuss that specifically responded to the prompt’s second question; why did he want to attend Colorado State specifically. We organized this answer into two parts as Thomas wanted to make sure he mentioned the both the school’s academic and personal appeal. I suggested that Thomas include more in his paper about his experiences as an orientation leader as it seemed like an experience that shaped his path to applying to graduate school. Finally, I worked with Thomas to clean up some smaller grammatical issues. We specifically tried to make some of his longer sentences shorter by cutting out some unnecessary wordiness. I encouraged Thomas to return to the Writing Center in the future as he continues to draft his personal statement and wished him the best of luck in getting accepted to grad school.

Thomas, I forgot to refer you to these in our session, but they’re some personal statement workshops that we, along with some other on campus groups, help to put on. Hopefully they’ll be useful for you. One is a link, the other I copied in for you.

http://writingcenter.uconn.edu/studentworkshops.php

Student Affairs Graduate School Applications Resume and Personal Statement Help

The UConn Student Affairs Association (UCSAA) with support from the Department of Career Services on campus is holding a workshop to help undergraduates with resumes and personal statement in preparation for graduate school applications

Please join us Tuesday, November 15th, 2011 from 7-9 PM in SU324 for some student affairs help and advice.

Bring any questions, concerns, resumes, personal statements, or other items you’d like to discuss and we’ll hopefully provide some guidance for you!

The "Ideal Applicant"

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:34:00 -0500

“An RA should have strong interpersonal skills.”

“A graduate student should be passionate about their field of research.”

“An employee should always be a hard worker.”

In the Spring semester, the UConn Writing Center sees many students who want to work on Personal Statements, Letters of Intent, and other application-based documents. We (Ashantee, Elizabeth, and Ricky) have found ourselves dealing with papers that discuss “ideal applicants” rather than the person writing the paper.

In a phrase, a person needs to show, and not tell. Oftentimes, the writer is producing quality work, but they need to be reminded that it’s a statement of his or her purpose, or intent. Without the distinction in mind, one can easily write a generic response like those seen above. It isn’t sufficient to lecture the audience about what candidates should or should not be doing - instead, they can become a more active writer, showing how their experiences and skills will contribute to the program.

Ricky’s strategy is to have the writer put their goal at the top of the paper, with optional (but strongly recommended) sparkles for inspiration. Then, he suggests that they list the skills that they see as relevant to the program. Is the writer energetic, or hard working, or responsible? Are they all of the above? Once the list is created, they can group them together, and then show how they have demonstrated those qualities in their day to day life.

Elizabeth recently worked with several undergraduate writers who were working on applications to academic programs at UConn. When dealing with writers who don’t explicitly connect experience to intent, Elizabeth asks, “How have these experiences helped you develop academically, socially, or in other areas of life? How can the skills and knowledge gained through these experiences be an asset to you if you are accepted into the program?” Sometimes writers get bogged down in listing events, teams, research, and travel but leave out the crucial connection between those experiences and their future academic or career goals. Elizabeth believes that this oversight may be just that - an oversight. Writers are so close to their own stories that the connection often seems so obvious to them, whereas the reader is left wondering why the writer chose to talk about that particular topic.

Those Personal Statement Links

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 21:17:20 -0500

Since I made much of connecting personal statement writers to other resources on campus, I thought I should make it easy to find them.

For the schedule of workshops on applying to medical or dental school (including some on writing personal statements), see here: http://www.premed.uconn.edu
For the schedule of workshops on applying to law school (including some on writing personal statements), see here: http://www.prelaw.uconn.edu
For our own workshops on personal statements, see here: http://writingcenter.uconn.edu/studentworkshops1.php