Conducting Consequential Research

This article examines the value undergraduate research adds to writing centers in their role as anchor institutions within English and across college and university campuses. It focuses on a pilot project conducted by a team of mentored peer tutors who researched the accessibility of writing at Marquette University. Their successes and failures show how, beyond research findings, undergraduate research experience can be consequential for practitioners and their communities.

Writing Centers

Undergraduate-staffed writing centers, tutor-preparation courses, and writing center studies have been and continue to be ideally suited for undergraduate research in English studies. Though requiring resources, planning, and a reconsideration of humanities scholarship, the benefits of writing center undergraduate research are many, including enabling students to develop unique and authentic questions and answers while enhancing their research and tutoring skills, reframing students’ roles within higher education, and preparing humanities majors for a range of career paths.

Intertwining Concerns of Libraries and Writing Centers

Through 2020, Asbury Theological Seminary largely built an introductory course for those preparing for graduate-level study in seminary disciplines. Through that work and the collaborative efforts between our research librarian, Writing Center, and instructional designer, we have discovered shared concerns, knowledge, and new insights into how to help our students. Great synergy was found in terms of information literacy, citations, using information well, and a desire to see students/patrons succeed. Points of divergence were found in terms of organizational structures (siloes) and a potential conflict between a “do for” rather than “teach how” staff focus. Recommendations also are given at the close regarding having writing resources available for patrons in contexts where there is not a writing center.

Teamwork skills pada peer consultant writing center dan mahasiswa pengguna jasanya

Introduction. Writing centers (WC) as a writing consultation would help students complete their scientific writing and improve their non-technical skills. This study aimed to determine the effect of WC on students' teamwork abilities. Data Collection Methods. This research is a cross-sectional descriptive and explorative study. The quantitative method measured students' teamwork utilizing the Teamwork Skills Questionnaire at three points of collection. The qualitative method collected data from in-depth interviews. Both types of data came from peer-consultants (PC) and users of WC services. Data Analysis. Quantitative data analysis used the repeated measure of one-way ANOVA, and qualitative data analysis used the content analysis. Results and Discussion. We found that the p-value is 0.857 for the PC and 0.044 for the user from the data analysis. Results showed a significant increase in the user's teamwork ability. Although the quantitative results of the PC were not significant, from the qualitative analysis, PCs explained that the WC could train teamwork indirectly through communication skills, adaptation, leadership, and collaboration. Conclusion. The teamwork skills that students have before and after the WC program was categorized as high. WC had a subtle influence on the teamwork ability of the PC and its users. We suggest that the university elaborate the WC as one of the students' services.

Writing Center Visitors: Influence of L1 Writing Skills on Students’ Exophonic Writings

This study investigated the influence of acquired L1 writing skills on exophonic writings of students ( N = 147) from diverse majors, who visited an English writing center for assistance. Affective differences revealed students with L1 writing tutelage (WL1) had lower avoidance behavior and higher extrinsic motivation and writing self-efficacy. Self-perceived L2 writing ability was found to be a principal factor for WL1. Writing self-efficacy appeared essential for students without L1 writing tutelage (WOL1). Regression analysis found learner self-beliefs and somatic anxiety (negative) influenced self-perceived L2 writing ability for WL1, and holistic self-beliefs on English writing (HSE) and cognitive ability (negative) for WOL1. Acquired L1 writing skills did not tangibly influence L2 performance. No large impact factors were found for WL1, but HSE and attitudes & reaction (negative) impacted WOL1 performance. Implications such as performance may not be a main concern among exophonic writers, and the need for English writing centers in non-L1 (English) countries are discussed.