Blog 11: Note-taking do's & don't or otherwise, in relation thereto ;0

In class, the session between Eric and Erin was very real and brought the peer tutoring scenario to a place of understanding for me.  I appreciated the back-n-forth, and it's a different approach to peer tutoring session I have not witnessed before.  Being able to value what was displayed, I was able to take the pointers and run with my research observations.  I felt I had the tools necessary to know what I was doing or at least make it seem like it ;0 

My note-taking strategies for all my subjects in school, college, meetings, etc. have all pretty much been the same.  Under the same parallel thought, that I have to conquer everything the speaker, professor, or person directing the meeting is saying---has helped to later weed out what I don't need.  Again having an Associates in Journalism, you're taught that every detail and quote is of utmost importance.  Therefore, I've stuck with this method of training, and usually write everything down.  I literally write faster than I type.  I don't think I type fast (50-60 wpm) but imagine I write much quicker than that.  Not to be pompous, but it's been almost like Survival 101 in college, for most professors have the lecture approach with very little writing on the board--then weeks later give a test on what the lecture entailed.  So to say the least, I write EVERYTHING..i really mean everything I hear, see, observe, and/or have a connection & think it may be important, I write it down. 

The only problem with this type of notating is that I may miss, the precise action taking place--and by jotting down the details, I may miss half the sentence.  So what I've learned from observing coaches and students is that I need to put the pen down sometimes, just keenly observe, and then if super important, then jot down.  Usually for class I will write down every note, and absorb later but what I've found out that for this project you need to absorb first, observe later.  (If that makes sense.)  There truly is a valid reasoning for my insanity, it's to end up with a good finished product including all the details.  And what I need is notes I can take from here, ignore the ones not fitting in my research paper, and figure out how many of the same type of behavior or theories I need to reinforce in my writings or look up more research.

In the future, I'm hoping to pull out more validity statements (quotes giving pats on backs) and take more interest in body language.  What has also been my stream of thought is intermingling between body language and validity statements. Something else that I encountered was the "time markers", Dr. Chandler was talking about in class and even Angela had something to that effect on her blog.  That is such a good idea--so that you know where they were in the session.  I missed it on my last session observed, but will take into account I need a correct timing utensil and keep track of maybe 15-20 minute intervals.  The only thing I'm having kinda of an issue with is to categorize or know which category to place my notes in.  Maybe my mind thinks different, but I usually write extensive notes, look them over, then decide what's good for my paper.  I'm not sure if I'm functioning correctly, but if anyone has a better method, please ...PLEASE...let me know.  I'm a pretty approachable person. ;-0

In conclusion, I have to work on patterns, more body language and timing.  I have the quotes down, and the way the session was conducted, I just need to add some of the other points to make my research complete.  Otherwise, I think I'm headed in the right direction.


Note to Everyone:  BTW I'm sorry I didn't come to class last Thursday, I had a stomach bug that lasted a WHOLE week...yea it was awful but THANK GOD, I'm okay.  See you Tuesday!!

Blog 10: Writing Center Philosophy

Jacqueline Lebron-Macdonal
Blog 10:  Writing Center Philosophy
October 12, 2010





Welcome ALL WRITERS: 
An open door Policy @ KEAN UNIVERSITY WRITING CENTER


OUR MOTTO
“A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on.”
John F. Kennedy

When a person wants to educate themselves, they attend university; hence when a physician needs to apply the science he/she has learned, the good doctor will get a degree from med school. 


OUR MISSION
When a writer needs assistance in placing their ideas in order or allocating thoughts for a term paper, a writing center in a prestigious university such as Kean, offers this service. When a writer has writer's block or cannot formulate his/her own opinions or therefore; form a hypothesis of what the assignment needs to grasp, or any type of assistance in their writing project, hence the student is welcome to the Writing Center.

From a student’s blank page to the rough draft of a 150-page manuscript almost ready for processing, this just needs a look over before going to the publisher, to the research manual forming hypotheses. We can help here at the Writing Center. From the ESL (English as a Second Language) learners, to the freshman who barely passed English in high school, to the junior needing an excellent paper to pass a History requirement, to the Graduate Level student working on their thesis.   We strive for excellence in a cozy, relaxed, one-on-one assistance with our consultants among technology and computers readily available for the writer/student to complete their research.

Our writing center at Kean University provides everything from soup to nuts.

OUR UNIQUE STAFF

This elite center encompasses overqualified individuals who are accessible to lead others “through the writing process” and who interact with other writers throughout various disciplines interchanging positive criticisms his/her works.  These leaders or masters of English will be readily available to assist all levels of the writing process and who will assist all types of writers across multiple academia.  Our consultants are from all walks of life:  sophomores and all undergraduate students who have mastered the English language, and/or received higher GPA’s (Grade Point Averages) to Graduates achieving masters in English and Writing to Professors and Doctorate Studies recipients whom have received a Ph.D. in all types of disciplines and whom are proficient tutors.

WORKSHOPS and Beyond...

Our writing center will have future workshops to teach the basics like grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure if this kind of help is so needed.  Sessions will be posted weekly on our website, or via text alerts @ Kean writing center.  Any questions, please feel free to stop by in person and visit our office conveniently located in CAS141.

PART 2:
My thoughts about a WRITING CENTER

Being a university, this English conglomerate needs to satisfy all needs, every level, every inquiry and so forth; if not why exist in the first place.  Even faculty, advisors, administrative staff, and even cafeteria workers working on research projects about writing could benefit from such an extraordinaire facility if the hierarchical structure provided that foundation, means, and economic assistance. 

The vision in forming an Elite Writing Center is to be a mega-structure so formally designed that everyone will feel welcomed, assisted and less overwhelmed with their studies and at the same time their needs would be addressed and satisfied. 

The Michigan State University writing center appeals to all audiences, for having a stabilized structure in which even the outside community is welcomed.  Being a University in the tri-state area, the advantage to reach out to extremities not sought out before is a new ideal, yet achieving that status would thus take arduous reinforcement from the consultants and staff alike. 

Volunteers in the process of making this writing center grandiose would appeal to the average human being, and thus make it a more inviting environment.  The idea is to be invitational, welcoming, beneficial, and achieve success beyond areas imaginable while upholding a standard of admiration in the executive arena as well with our diverse student population here at Kean University.  At the same time, enriching the language of English and allowing others to be proficient writers within the academic world. 




***********I have the 2nd part to revamp...i'm still working on this last part..i had all my ideas in my head and just spilled them out..here they are..sorry if i'm not all together yet...i'm getting there...i had trouble staying under 750 words...and I have to tie in the theories of other Writing Centers...I have my research...i just don't have my book available.  To be continued....


 

BLOG 8 --WRITING CULTURES rough draft (almost a masterpiece)

Jacqueline Lebron-Macdonal

Hello folks, this is still a write in progress, i'm still needing a more solid conclusion paragraph to tie everything in, and to merge my thoughts (cohesiveness) a little more-- maybe add more research and I think "i'm okay".
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 The different expectations students have versus professors’ perceptions in regards to academic integrity issues addressing:  plagiarism, cheating, fabrication and academic misconduct.

Many issues are being faced in today's universities because the common thread where students as well as professors are not understanding the grave danger in plagiarism, cheating or any form of academic misconduct including fabrication and academic misconduct.  "Forty-nine percent of staff and 39% of students thought that cheating on assessment tasks was common with 'copying a few paragraphs and not citing the source' the most common form." (Source 2) Academic writing is usually in standard, traditional format that any institution or professor is quite accustomed to viewing.  Yet are the students inclined to this type of written format.  Perceptions on what is expected seems to blur and confuse the minds of students, because every professor expects a different approach to writing while other professors give the freedom for their students to express their thoughts and creativity.  "Differences existed in beliefs about why cheating occurred with staff endorsing the view that students lacked an understanding of the rules." (Wilkinson 98) Some students understand the rules, they either are too indolent to discern the proper format, have insufficient time, or the majority of the student population just worries about getting good grades that won't affect their GPA so their scholarships, financial aid or other financial assistance like parents won't withdraw the economic assistance for the lack of academic ability.  "Students...felt that wanting a better grade and having too many assessment items were strong motivation for cheating." (Wilkinson 98) What I've seen from professors, faculty, and staff at Kean University is that they value the MLA handbook and the important factor is that a student learns how to incorporate the handbook in citing their writing.  The MLA handbook is pretty much like a bible for writers.  Most English department professors within the university value a well spoken, well versed, educated student; thus assign writing reports and research papers that will make students more proficient writers. And this is the purpose behind the writing center that allows flexibility for students to input their own ideas and conjure a concoction of research notations and textual information. The writing center is a resource that students should use; but are not taking advantage of for lack of direction and purpose. "Maintaining high standards of academic integrity is the obligation of all members of the Kean community – students, faculty, and administrators." (Kean 4)

Writing Culture at Kean University as seen on campus differs between groups of people.  The nonchalant younger crowd takes it in stride and with constant text lingo back-n-forth take assignments lightly, hand in their papers and produce overall good grades.  The mid thirties generation, like myself, is carrying dictionaries, thesaurus, and laptops to overcome the hurdle of modern technology that every other student at Kean is already accustomed to.  The over 40 generation has writing down to a science and their only worry or stresses is juggling family and student life.  A campus observation from day-to-day college life demonstrates both ends of the spectrum. Wilkinson demonstrated research that proved that of teachers’ thoughts that the common reason for students’ cheating [plagiarism or academic misconduct] was that the students were “not understanding the rules of referencing” where the students revealed [86% of them] that the true reason for cheating was “laziness or bad time management.” (Wilkinson 102,100)

Academic integrity is what professors should be teaching its students rather than giving the notion its okay to "copy" your classmates ideas and notes and/or study with another student that has the assignment all configured in their brain--and happens to verbalize ideas out loud to her classmate.  Would that be a matter of cheating if they both have the same idea on their papers?  Would that be academic misconduct?  The writing cultures at universities have to reflect its student population, because if not the aim at academic integrity is futile. "An individual’s work must reflect that person’s own efforts and achievements. Any collaboration of effort by an individual or groups of individuals must be acknowledged.  Failure to acknowledge such contributions constitutes an act of dishonesty and a misrepresentation of the individual’s work." (Kean 4)  "Tearoom, corridor, and office discussions propose several reasons for student plagiarism, including failure to understand what is expected or confusion over differing expectations, a response to increasing assessment workload, or in a minority of cases, a deliberate attempt to deceive markers."  (Wilkinson 98) An expertise in the field of our universities most valuable resource:  the writing center had this to say about expectations of students vs. professors in academic writing principles:  “[i]n fact, though most students came to …[the] Writing Center either to fulfill a composition requirement or for help with editing a paper, a full 100% of them declared that they learned more about writing from the tutors at the writing center than they’d learned from their instructors or from their own efforts.” (Rodis 183)

“Students more frequently indicated wanting a better grade (73%) and too many assignment tasks (56%) as reasons for cheating, whereas staff indicated that it was unconscious and the student was not aware they were doing anything wrong (65%) and that students thought they were unlikely to be caught (63%). (Wilkinson 100) Academic writing is usually in standard, traditional format where as though any institution is in the habit of surveying.  Many a times institutions like Kean University has a certain way of demonstrating, a universal writing culture in which they follow for years on end.  Outside sources, like doctorate educators, consultants, and guest speakers shed light on policies and procedures--that may or may not influence the current writing culture already established at the institution from time to time.  Conferences given by scholars in the subject matter and experts in given fields enforce the "writing culture" or "academic standard" that already exists at Kean.  Then once each student strolls into class, he's faced with a syllabus.  At this particular time, the syllabus stresses of how the professor wants papers or essays to be written, usually having MLA or APA standards as a footnote to stress the importance of a "good paper".  Reading good papers and writing well noted manuscripts are two distinct ideals.  It’s expected for experienced writers to run into a common writer's block once in a while; yet an attempt to combat the symptom is called a writing center and/or personal scholastic instruction.  "Howard (1995), like many authors, also noted that plagiarism can be aided or hindered by assessment and teaching practices and there have been substantial efforts made to design 'plagiarism proof' items." (Wilkinson 98)

Webster’s and my definition combined of a writing culture is a civilization of people who compose literary or academic works.  In essence, the writing center is born.  A place where a tutor can assist a writer “gather ideas, find a focus, …develop a pre-writing draft, organize, and develop work at any point in the writing process” (Chandler, Kean W/C) This approach welcomes all people from all walks of life, religion, diversity, and ethical backgrounds come together to form a common bond:  the art of writing. “Thomas Thompson describes how tutors at The Citadel’s Writing Center easily work within the constraints of a military honor code: ‘[T]utors try to avoid taking pen in hand when discussing a student paper.  They may discuss content, and they may use the Socratic method to lead students to discover their own conclusions, but tutors are instructed not to tell students what a passage means or give students a particular word to complete a particular thought.’” (Clark and Healy 246)

Findings of Kean University many sanctions (def. punitive measure against [Webster’s dictionary]) any shape or form of cheating, plagiarism, fabrication, and/or academic misconduct as expected was sought in the academic conduct “rule book”.  Meaning Kean University has strict policies in strict violations of the academia programs.  It is in direct result to protect the university image and reputation as well as its students whom abide in the confines of the university's campuses.  If a student is found in fault of plagiarism or any other academic misconduct, the consequence is as follows: “Recommended Sanction: University for one semester with a notation of “disciplinary suspension” placed in a student’s internal academic file and a failing grade in the course.” (Kean 10)  "Plagiarism and cheating (e.g., copying from another student in an exam) are forms of misconduct that have become areas of increasing concern for academics in higher education." (Wilkinson 98) Such type of behavior “seriously compromises the mission of Kean University to provide quality programs and opportunities for the optimum development of all students.” (Kean 3)

And “these principles are essential to ensuring and maintaining excellence in the quality of its academic instructional programs.” (Kean 3) Thus the reason for a writing center to co-exist; therefore, enhances the valuable point of necessity among college students and faculty alike to form a complete circle of life or hence survival.  Or is it just merely an act of scholastic aptitude? Different expectations lie between students and professors with respect to academic integrity issues like plagiarism, cheating fabrication and other academic misconduct, yet overall the true “reasons suggested as factors influencing student misconduct activity are [implied by] student age, gender, academic level and course difficulty, and cultural background” (Wilkinson 98) where as the same factor can be said for the instructors and/or institutional values within the university itself.

Works Cited

“Kean Academic Integrity Policy”, Kean University, official website file:     http://www.kean.edu/forms/AcademicIntegrity.pdf, Kean.edu, Revised Fall 2006. Web.

Wilkinson, Jenny. “Staff and Student Perceptions of Plagiarism and Cheating:  Charles Sturt University.” International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education: http://www.isetl.org/ijtlhe/pdf/IJTLHE278.pdf , 2009, Volume 20, Number 2, 98-105, ISSN 1812-9129. Web.

Clark, Irene L. and Dave Healy.  “Are Writing Centers Ethical?”  WPA:  Writing Program Administration 20.1/2 (copyright 1996): 32-38, Rpt. The Longman Guide to Writing Center Theory and Practice. By Robert W. Barnett and Jacob S. Blummer:  Pearson Education, Inc., 2008, 242-259. Print.

Chandler, Dr. Susan, “About the Kean University Writing Center”,

Kean University Writing Center, Kean University, official website file: http://www.kean.edu/~wcenter/staff.html, Kean.edu. Web.

Rodis, Karen.  “Mending the Damaged Path:  How to Avoid Conflict of Expectation When Setting Up a Writing Center.”  The Writing Center Journal 10.2 (1990):  45-57.  Rpt. The Longman Guide to Writing Center Theory and Practice.  By Robert W. Barnett and Jacob S. Blummer:  Pearson Education, Inc., 2008, 176-188. Print.

BLOG 9; Writing Center for the Elites: Hence my writing philosophy ;0

When a person wants to educate themselves, they attend university; hence when a physician needs to apply the science he/she has learned, the good doctor will get a degree from med school, etc. etc.  When a writer has writer's block or cannot formulate their own opinions or form a hypothesis of what the assignment needs to grasp, the student would go to a Writing Center.  These centers should provide everything from bolt to nuts, for comparison's sake, the Elite Center needs to have overqualified individuals who know how to lead others and are able to take positive criticism as well on their own writings.  These leaders or masters of English need to assist all levels in the writing process and all levels of writers.  From the blank page to the rough draft of a 150 page manuscript almost ready for processing, that just needs a look over before going to the publisher, to the research manual forming hypotheses.  From the ESL learners, to the freshman who barely passed English in high school, to the junior needing an excellent paper to pass a History requirement, to the Graduate Level student working on their thesis.  A writing center also needs to have workshops to teach the basics like grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure if this kind of help is so needed.  Being a university, this English conglomerate needs to satisfy all needs, every level, every inquiry and so forth; if not why exist in the first place.  Even faculty, advisors, adminstrative staff, and even cafeteria workers working on research projects about writing could benefit from such an extraordinare facility if the hierarchial structure assisted in doing so.  The vision in forming an Elite Writing Center is to be a mega-structure so formally designed that everyone will feel welcomed, assisted and less overwhealmed with their studies and at the same time their needs would be addressed and satisfied.  The Michigan State University writing center appeals to all audiences, for having a stablilized structure in which even the outside community is welcomed.  Being a University in the tri-state area, the advantage to reach out to extremities not sought out before is a new ideal, yet achieving that status would thus take ardous reinforcement from the consultants and staff alike.  Volunteers in the process of making this writing center grandiose would appeal to the average human being, and thus make it a more inviting environment.  The idea is to be invitational, welcoming, beneficial, and achieve success being areas imaginable while upholding a standard of admiration in the executive arena all the while enriching the language of English and allowing others to be proficient writers within the academic world.  After all it's a world class education that is sought after by scholars, ye?

**Note:  I'm in the process of adding my research, but i have "borrowed" (not taken-read hers and formulated my own ideals) some of my ideas from the Michigan State University gameplan, and want to dive deeper in other writings by the same author who wrote the philosophy piece.**