Week 5, A Leadership Paper

I have always expected to see diversity in the types of students and writing assignments that come into the center for help. Different students have different priorities, and it is nice to see that many students believe that their writing is important, as I assume is one of their reasons for coming to the writing center.

This week I got to see my first paper for a leadership class, which was somewhat different from the typical paper seen in the writing center. The leadership professors ask their students to break out of the typical style of writing for their essays. For example, the student said she was required to state in her thesis exactly what she will be arguing in the paper, using the first person. When I saw the first person in, of all places, the thesis statement, I immediately circled it to comment on later. I was surprised to learn the different style required by the department.

I am so used to the conventional college essay that it took me a minute to accept this, and I even questioned the girl, and almost the professor's judgement, saying to myself that the style change was unnecessary and ridiculus. I am definitely glad that I did not come out and say that, especially to a student with such a strong paper and a pride in her department.

There were not many changes to be made, but I did see that the student had made some typos that she did not catch. Instead of pointing them all out to her, I pointed out one and told her to go over the paper and make sure she proofread it carefully, remembering the goal of the writing center to make better writers, not better papers.

Having worked primarily with elementary and middle school students in my education career, I think it is very interesting to move to a realm that is more concerned with fine tuning than with instruction on mostly concrete facts. I think collaboration should be a big part of teaching young people just as it is for college level writers in the center here.