Long Papers
Most of the papers I have worked with so far have been short ones—three to five pages. In twenty to forty minutes the student and I can easily read the paper aloud together and discuss major issues like thesis, organization, conclusion, and anything else that comes up. Usually, we even have enough time to talk about a grammar rule or two.
In the sessions with short papers, I fall back on reading the paper together with the student, otherwise, I wouldn’t know where to start. Today, I tutored a lady with a medical research paper. The paper was probably ten to fifteen pages--much too long to read together in one session. I wasn’t really sure how to start and what to do. If I had my way, I would ask the student to walk around the building for fifteen minutes while I read over her paper and found mistakes and other issues to talk about. When she came back I would be ready to go and we could discuss the paper together without any problem. Instead, I asked a few questions at the start of the session to get a sense of the purpose of her paper, then I skimmed through a few paragraphs and discussed them with her to keep her engaged and involved. This went on for thirty-five minutes before I had to end the session to go to class. We didn’t go through the whole paper, but we found some patterns for her to look for in the remaining pages of the report. Overall, the session was helpful, but it felt incomplete and unfinished when it ended—the ending was as abrupt and awkward as the beginning was.
My biggest concern is not how to handle content that I am unfamiliar with, but how to help a student improve a long paper that I don’t even have time to read completely. When I don’t know anything about the content I can always ask questions and help the writer decide if he has included enough information in the paper. But how do I help a student improve a paragraph that we didn’t have time to read? What is the best way to cover the information in a lengthy research paper in twenty minutes? What is the best way to handle through a session without simply reading the paper? I feel like reading the paper together with the student is a crutch that I’m having trouble leaving behind because I don’t know what else to do. So, what are some other ways to get through a session with a long paper?
In the sessions with short papers, I fall back on reading the paper together with the student, otherwise, I wouldn’t know where to start. Today, I tutored a lady with a medical research paper. The paper was probably ten to fifteen pages--much too long to read together in one session. I wasn’t really sure how to start and what to do. If I had my way, I would ask the student to walk around the building for fifteen minutes while I read over her paper and found mistakes and other issues to talk about. When she came back I would be ready to go and we could discuss the paper together without any problem. Instead, I asked a few questions at the start of the session to get a sense of the purpose of her paper, then I skimmed through a few paragraphs and discussed them with her to keep her engaged and involved. This went on for thirty-five minutes before I had to end the session to go to class. We didn’t go through the whole paper, but we found some patterns for her to look for in the remaining pages of the report. Overall, the session was helpful, but it felt incomplete and unfinished when it ended—the ending was as abrupt and awkward as the beginning was.
My biggest concern is not how to handle content that I am unfamiliar with, but how to help a student improve a long paper that I don’t even have time to read completely. When I don’t know anything about the content I can always ask questions and help the writer decide if he has included enough information in the paper. But how do I help a student improve a paragraph that we didn’t have time to read? What is the best way to cover the information in a lengthy research paper in twenty minutes? What is the best way to handle through a session without simply reading the paper? I feel like reading the paper together with the student is a crutch that I’m having trouble leaving behind because I don’t know what else to do. So, what are some other ways to get through a session with a long paper?
posted by Anonymous at 10:47 PM
1 Comments:
Ditto.
Tyler, everytime I read your blogs I always think, "Yeah! Good Questions! Ditto!" I think that you and I think alike...
YEAH! Long papers are hard. I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks so; and feels that awkward feeling when you end the session and you haven't even read half of the uber-long paper.
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