civic issue

8/13/2019 Civic Issue

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Emily Proulx

Professor Wright

Civic Issue Project

Incorrect Assumptions about the University Writing Center

Proposal:

While working at the university writing center over the past year, I have

noticed a lot of misunderstandings that occur on campus. These misunderstandings

can be about our location, services, hours, and overall mission. This is an incredible

problem because the perception of the writing center is a majority of its marketing.

These impressions come from professors and peers, some of who do not think they

are wrong at allthis is because they are simply misinformed. This creates an issue

when students come to the writing center with these assumptions and feel failed

when consultants do not meet their expectations.

I believe in order to conquer this issue it is important to address both the

professors and the students. This would require research into which genre would

best reach both subjects in the most effective way. It may be better for the scope of

this project to focus on one or the other, but I feel it would be more efficient to work

on both. This will create less confusion in the classroom and help everyone on

campus understand the resource available to them. This may be best presented in

viewing the advertising the writing center does, and how often it connects with

professors on campus. Working with the Writing Across the Curriculum department

may help this project along.


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Since my audience is both professors and students, I am predicting that a

redesign of the presentation for classrooms to be the best strategy. At this point in

time, professors request writing center consultant to give a presentation on the

writing center to their classroom. However, there are several misconceptions that

are not addressed in this PowerPoint, and consultants are not trained for these

presentations. In addition, reaching out to upper level English professors, and other

subjects where the writing center is not utilized, and offering the presentations may

make the professors more subject to suggesting the writing center.

For research, I have already begun collecting examples from syllabi that have

incorrect information. I have found two syllabi in particular from two professors in

two different departments who have incorrect locations, hours, and ideas about the

writing center that they share with their students. For example, a Teaching English

as a Second Languageprofessor insinuates that the writing center can proofread

your papers. In the writing center community this idea of proofreading has a

negative connotation because it isnt collaborative. The main issue with this is that

the writing center offers information about the writing center that is designed for a

professors syllabus, yet the professors are still not using these.

Social networking is also a place where students gain a lot of information.

Most recently I have seen a student post for proofreading in a UCF Craigslist posts

and three people referred him to the writing center. While the writing center can

help with grammatical concerns it is not a proofreading service, which could be

inferred by the language in this post. There is an importance with the language used

in this type of material, as well. Many of the commenters on the post called it the


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writing lab. These institutions used to be called labs, but then the name was

changed because of the remedial image such language portrays. The continuation of

this language by students continues the misconceptions that the center is only for

bad writers.

For further research I intent to ask the members of the student body which

the writing center has the least amount of contact with. This includes upper level

creative writing and literature courses, science courses, and other upper level

courses. Since at this level many professors dont assign a meeting with the writing

center, most students forget about this service. I plan to survey these groups to see

what assumptions they have about the writing center and why they arent utilizing

this service. I also plan to use a lot of the data already conducted by the manager at

the writing center to look at further statistics.

Analysis of Problem:

The university writing center at UCF is a center for writers to come to learn to improve

their writing skills and processes. On the website, the writing center states its mission as:

To provide individual and small-group writing support to UCF students from

first-year to graduate in every discipline, faculty, staff, and community members .

. . not merely to fix papers or to make better writers, but to teach writers strategies

to understand and to navigate complex situations for writing, both in and outside

the University.

This is quite a strong message to send to students. However, what exactly does it mean?

Many students misinterpret the writing center to be similar to the SARC on campus,

which provides direct tutoring, retention programs, and supplemental instruction. While


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there may be some similarities the writing center is more about collaboration and less

about tutoring. The consults at the writing center do not have all the issues, they are not

writing expertsrather they have simply been taught the resources and tools they can

give a student to help them improve their own writing.

Many may not see the issue in this common misunderstanding. However, it is one

of the many common misconceptions about the writing center that lead to unhappy

students and a lack of utilizing the writing center as a resource. The misconceptions that

will be expanded upon in this report include the writing center is only for remedial

writers, the writing center only proofreading center, and that the consults at the writing

center are experts. After conducting both primary and secondary research, I have found

that these are prevalent issues at the writing center at UCF and other writing centers

across the country. These problems occur from both the students and the professors on

campus that share these misconceptions with their peers.

A genre that many of these conceptions are displayed through is class syllabi. At

UCF there are many professors that include information about the writing center for their

students in their syllabus. This can be very informative and make students aware of the

services that the writing center offers. For this reason the writing center has a text to

include in a syllabus for faculty on their website. From the research I have gathered,

many professors are not using this text, or are using an outdated text. In a Theories and

Practice of Teaching ESOL Students in Schools syllabus, information for the writing

center is incorrect and under a heading labeled proofreading. This can lead to the

connotation that many students have that the writing center is a proofreading service,

where they can drop off their paper and have it fixed.


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PROOFREADING: Since students are studying to become teachers, all assignments are to be

submitted free of spelling, grammatical, and typographical errors. Such errors will result in

the lowering of the assignment grade by the number of points indicated on the rubric for

that assignment.Make sure to proof any submitted work or have someone else proof your

work before you turn it in. The University Writing Center in MOD 608 is located near the

Communications Building, phone number 407-823-2197.

In another syllabus for a Teaching Adolescent Literature class a professor again uses

language that insinuates that the writing center is only valued for its grammatical help.

In addition, it provides incorrect hours and locations, similar to the previous example.

All assignments must be typed unless otherwise noted by the instructor. Ten points

per day will be deducted for work turned in late. If your assignment contains

excessive writing errors it will not be accepted. Make sure to proof any submitted

work before turning it in. Typographical and grammar errors will result in the

lowering of an assignment grade per error. The University Writing Center in MOD

608 (near the Communications Building), phone number 407-823-2197 is available

for this assistance. Hours are Monday- Thursday 8:00 am-8:00 pm, Friday 8:00 am-

3:00 pm, and Sunday 2:00 pm- 8:00pm. Their website ishttp://www.uwc.ucf.edu.

You will not receive a course grade until all work is satisfactorily completed.

Office hours are now held in the UCF Library Room 359 on Mondays through

Thursdays from 11 am to 7 pm and 10 am to 3 pm on Fridays.

The writing center is not located in room 359 nor is it in the MOD near the

communication building. This incorrect information can create frustration in students

who are trying to find the writing center, and may cause them to not use the resource.

These syllabi also help to portray the idea that the writing center is only for

remedial writers. By insisting that you go to the writing center for proofreading, or if you

need help, many experienced writers will assume they do not need to attend a session.

However, writers at every level can value from a second eye looking over their paper.

An examination of the students who visit the writing center found that students

who are in upper level English courses are not visiting the writing center. Last year, only

four students in 4000 level creative writing courses, 53 students in 4000 level English

courses, and 20 students in 3000 level literature courses visited the writing center. This is
http://ww.uwc.ucf.edu/http://ww.uwc.ucf.edu/http://ww.uwc.ucf.edu/http://ww.uwc.ucf.edu/


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an interesting fact, because these are the students at the university who are doing the most

writing. Through a survey done in English classes, I have determined that students are not

coming to the writing center because they insist they are good writers who do not need

help. However, they deal with several large complex papers that are all due at the same

time. Visiting the writing center would most certainly help any writer.

The writing center sees a large population of English Composition 1 and 2

students and American History 1 and 2 students come to the writing center because

professors require the visit. There has been a lot of debate on whether or not this is useful

to get students to utilize the writing center. From the research, it seems that students are

not continuing to use the writing center after these general education classes. At a study

conducted that observed how many students from each major visited the writing center

last year, the most students came from Information and Technology and Biomedical

Science majors. However, from looking at how many students are coming for classes in

these majors, it can be determined that they are not coming for these subjects, but for

those introductory general education courses discussed previously.

This issue is not only prevalent at UCFs writing center. In chapter 6 of Writing

Center Research: Extending the Conversation, Peter Carino discusses how faculty

assumed that a student using the [writing] center would be producing grammatically

pristinepapers (99). He also discusses how twenty writing centers that he analyzed all

felt as though they had to refute misconceptions about the center . . . [and] ensure that

readers hear that grammar is only one of the centers concerns and a minor one at that

(99). Many of these websites use similar language to insist that their center is not a

grammar garage where things can be dropped off and fixed, but a learning center for


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students of all writing levels. The rhetoric behind this technique is sound, but it is only

going to the audience that visits the writing centers website. I believe that more

information about the writing center is produced through professor and student word of

mouth.

So when discussing whether or not upper level students come to the writing

center, what is the issue? Why does it matter if certain students are using the center and

others are not? It matters, I believe, because the writing center is a resource that anyone

can gain learning and understanding from. While many believe that writing is not a

necessary skill anymore, many jobs still value it. The consultants at the writing center can

do a lot more than proofread papers, and many struggling upper level students could

really benefit from this. The issue lies in the fact that they are not aware of what the

writing center really does. This misconception and stigma that is attached to the writing

center makes it difficult for students to get the most out of a writing session.

Action plan:

On a college campus there are many different communities one would find. At UCF

there is a math lab, SARC, the writing center, and student governmentjust to name

a few. These communities all work differently and all depend upon the students and

faculty to communicate the way they operate. The university writing center, like

many other writing centers in the country, have to fight many common

misconceptions that occur on campus. These assumptions come from both faculty

and students, and both prevent students from coming to the center and contribute

to a miscommunication of resources when they do come in.


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There have been many attempts to increase the relevant perception of the

writing center. Three years ago the writing center changed its director and received

an entire revamping of the strategies and work that it completes. The new director

implemented a focus on global issues and tutor educationwith grammatical

concerns being put on the back burner. However, if you are a professor or a student

who hasnt been to the center in a few years you may be confused. The writing

center has changed directors, locations, and pedagogical focus; without advertising

that directly acknowledges these changes.

The issues that the writing center at UCF encounters are common to writing

centers all over the country. In order to see what plans would be most effective for

our writing center, I have researched what other writing centers have done to

combat these issues.

Pages such as Common Misconceptions in The Writing Center are common.

The following are examples from multiple universities: Northern Michigan

University and Dixie State College, respectively. Pages such as these are very

common ways that writing centers attempt to define what they do. These pages

assume though that the students are going on the website and reading the pages. In

addition, this displays this information in a negative waya list of things they

wont do. In fact, many writing centers do, at some points in a session, proofread;


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it is just not the main objective.


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This is why I believe the solution to this issue belongs in two different

locations: one with the students, and one with the faculty. For the students, I have

been working over this semester on a revamping of the Facebook page for the

writing center. Using the guide of the article Social Media: A guide for college and

university libraries by Andy Burkhardt, myself and two other students were able to

determine goals for the writing center Facebook page. Our goals were specifically to

make students more aware of our existence and to try to make us more prevalent in

campus life at UCF. At times the writing center can be like a place for remedial

students or a place of judgment, but our hopes is that the Facebook page will change


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these perceptions. In order to accomplish this, myself and two other tutors worked

on the profile picture, description, and cover page of the page. While it was under

construction we hid the page from anyones view in order to erase the previous

image completely. We then went through and deleted the previous posts that were

no longer in line with our pedagogical goals at the writing center. This page

currently has 330 likes on Facebook and has hit a plateau. The next mission for the

page is to reach out to other Facebook pages from UCF campus life and trade

advertising posts with them. Recently, we had a meeting with two members of the

Writing and Rhetoric Facebook who admitted their page isnt in very much use

anymore. My plan is to continue meetings like this through e-mail or other forms of

communication and to find groups that will reach out to students who can benefit

from our posts.

Social media sites are perfect for rhetorical strategies such as rhetorical

velocity. The posts allow a lot of information about these services to reach a broad

audience. The Facebook page also works on the ethos for the writing center. We

post a lot of tutor profiles describing the credentials of our tutors. This is because

we want students to believe we can help them, but also see us as the students that

we are.

My intended solution for the faculty works well with the students, too. I have

been observing the PowerPoint presentation for the writing center could do a much

better job of combating these misconceptions. From my experience, an integral part

of the presentations that are missing is the interactions with the professors. During

a presentation professors often do not pay attention. This can lead to a lot of issues


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when communicating the goals and advantages of the writing center. I have

collected data from syllabi and other classroom materials that indicate that

professors do not understand the goals or purpose of the writing center. For many

students this can be confusing and can create the misconceptions that this paper is

trying to combat.

From this research and my own experiences, I have found a possible solution.

Currently, a professor fills out a form on the UWC website and requests a

presentation to be made. The form is shown below. As one can see it asks for a

minimal amount of information and provides no context for the consultant who is

doing to the presentation.


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This is why my suggestion is to create more communication between the writing

center consultant and the professor. A meeting before the presentation would be the

most efficient way to create this opportunity for learning. The writing consultant

could meet with the professor and discuss how we can best benefit the students in

their class. This form of discussion will allow the consultant to work through any

misconceptions that the professor has and help us most benefit the students in the

class. For example, a science class might be most interested in our Chemistry tutors

or APA style handouts. On the other hand, literature students would like to know

that we have a copy of the MLA handout in the office.

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