An Alternative?

Well, I think that Cynthia did a great job. It really isn’t our responsibility to know everything. We don’t even know much about writing, let alone the million other topics out there. When someone comes to the writing center that is obviously pretty intelligent, and their structure is good, then we can try and help them with the things we always wish we could help the other students with. For example, we can look at topic sentences, specific word choices, find passive and aggressive sentences and make sure they function properly where they are in the paper, etc. In the event that they know more about writing then we do, then we can tell them that. “You seem to know a lot about writing, your structure is good and I really like your way of writing. At the very least I can be a second set of eyes and make sure we catch all of your typos.”

This topic of people coming to the writing center who already understand writing actually leads into what I have been thinking about as a topic for my Bibliographic Essay. I am not sure if it is valid but I will explain my personal view here. What if the writing center had an editing branch? When I say that, I mean a student who is primarily an editor would be available through the writing center. I can think of a million reasons why this would be effective, but at the same time I am pessimistic because the idea has not been addressed in any of the essays I have looked at regarding writing centers and tutoring issues. While I will not delve into the idea very deeply, I would like to explain how this would have helped me personally.

Before I went to Ecuador I purposefully only took English 1010 so that when I came back I would be able to take 2010 and ease back into writing. I was aware of the writing center, and Sylvia even came to my class and did a presentation. I promised myself that if I didn’t get an A on my paper, I would go to the writing center for help. I received an A on my paper, but it was still plagued with typos and small little errors. Most people argue that they would not come to an editing service because they can have their friends edit their papers. Well, I had just come home from Ecuador. Most of the people that I would trust to edit my papers had disappeared or were busy with their own school work at other universities in the United States. I guess I could have turned to my roommates, a 30 year old physical therapist, a cowboy from Tremonton, a 26 year old senior (probably the most reliable of the five), a studying automotive technician, or a college freshman who was not currently going to school. Each of my roommates are really good people, but would you trust them with your paper’s? Anyway, why not try an editing program? I would have gone to the writing center had I known that someone would have peer edited or proofread my paper for me. Leave me a comment; do you think it would be effective to have an editing system?

Just a thought on that is all…