4/3

I think it is extremely important for writing center staff to pursue writing center research because-- based on the studies we have discussed in class or read about, and my own experience conducting and presenting research in various sciences-- whether or not the results are “significant”, research provides a unique perspective on the subject at hand. We talked last week about “code-switching”, for example, and while that term, like all academic language, demands contextual reading, it instantly provided a means to talk about a phenomenon that pervades writing centers across the country in as sraightforward a manner as possible. Providing key vocabulary is just one example of why writing center research feels important to me. One research project I’m interested in conducting, for example, is a study about students’ self-perception of themselves as writers, and the different strategies tutors can use to help them feel more confident if not as Writers with a capital ‘w’, then as authors of written work. One reason why I think this study will be useful is because I think students’ levels of self-confidence-- which, for some, can fluctuate throughout a semester-- and tutors’ acknowledgments (or lack thereof) to them can have an enormous (and perhaps under-recognized?) influence on the efficacy of tutoring sessions.

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