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Faculty ResearchProposed Campus Writing Center Research ProjectJanet L. HagemannThe Writing Center was created to meet the advanced writing needs of the SJSU population, and preliminary data confirm that the Writing Center is indeed meeting this objective. Another important objective of the Writing Center is to increase retention and graduation rates by providing one-on-one tutoring, particularly to upper division and graduate students. As Faculty-in-Residence, I will continue my work of assessing the progress of tutees through data collection.I now have data from four semesters; therefore I will begin to correlate student visits to the Writing Center with student retention and graduation rates. My hypothesis is that the data will show a positive correlation between students using the Writing Center and students who graduate. I will also continue to examine data that identifies characteristics of the student population the Writing Center serves: grade level, major, ethnicity, language spoken at home, the course for which the tutoring was needed, and material covered in the tutoring session. These data are a significant indicator of the area of influence of the Writing Center. Another area of my research is to correlate student success with Writing Center workshops. To determine if these workshops have any impact on student success, I will track student comments and evaluations of these workshops and I will personally call student attendees to follow-up on the impact of that workshop on their academic success. The data I collect from tutoring sessions and workshops will validate that the Writing Center continues to improve academic performance and grades of upper division and graduate students at SJSU. The collection of data is an on-going process which will continue throughout the academic year. I will compile my findings in a report to be presented to the Writing Requirements Committee in September 2009, and to any other SJSU administrator or committee interested in the success of the Writing Center. This research will be of use to other Writing Center faculty and staff; therefore, I also plan to publish my research in a writing center journal. Using Creative Writing Experience to Improve Analytical Writing in English 1BGloria CollinsObjective: Show that a creative writing experience can improve analytical writing. I will use three different types of writing prompts: A. A short prompt that asks an experience-based question B. A topic that asks for an argumentative response to multiple analytical readings C. A topic that asks students to respond to a piece of short fiction with their own creative writing piece I will A. assist in the pre-writing process for each topic with one of my English 1B sections this fall. B. determine which topic produces the best writing. C. investigate whether one approach to a topic prompt can be transferred to another type of writing prompt. Procedures, Outline and Timeline: Week 1, August 25 - Finish essay assignment schedule for the fall semester. Week 2, September 1 - Develop three trial topics (the first topic will be the department diagnostic). Week 3, September 8 - Evaluate Topic A (criteria: understanding the topic, sentence mechanics and grammar, thoughtful response with specifics). Week 4, September 15 - Prepare Topic B. Week 5, September 22 - Evaluate Topic B (grade papers, take notes on how students responded to topic). Week 6, September 29 - Prepare Topic C. Weeks 7-8, October 6-17 - Research articles on the link between creative writing and analytical/essay writing. Weeks 9-10, October 20-31 - Research articles, work on report. Week 11, November 3 – Evaluate Topic C (grade papers, make notes, keep samples of writing, etc.). Weeks 13-14, November 10-21 - Work on writing up results. Week 15, December 1 - Share findings with Writing Specialists. Week 16, December 8 - Finish report. |
SJSU Writing Center
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