Research Wrap

Going along the last blog’s theme, below will be a research wrap for the articles I have been reading. Two were some pretty heavy theorizing material that I had to wrap my head around and the others were documents from the International Writing Center Association's website.

Theorizing the Writing Center: An Uneasy Task (Peter Carino)

Really, with this article, Carino wasn't kidding when he said it would be an uneasy task. The amount of information was overwhelming. The article starts with Carino’s assertion that the writing center field (at the time) was moving away from only practice, to theory as well. Writing center theorists have two agendas: bringing practice through theory and using theory politically to define the writing center not only to composition studies, but to identify it within the academic world, thus establishing a center's disciplinary status and its role within the institution. Carino brings in theory from several authors (North, Warnocks, Knoblauch & Brannon, Bruffee, Ede, Lunsford, Gillam, Murphy, Hobson) and analyzes each one for how they really contextualize into the writing center realm. To be honest, I have no idea how any/all of this information will be applicable to the SWCA. If anything, I learned more than I ever thought I would about writing center theory. Having 3+ pages of notes will have to do, as it would be especially easy to get lost within Carino's article.

The National Writing Centers Association as Mooring: A Personal History of the First Decade (Joyce Kinkead)

The manner in which Kinkead approached the history of the NWCA is very similar to how I am approaching the SWCA. In her notes section, Kinkead writes that this was a keynote address at the first NWCA conference in 1994. One of my (possible) goals for this project is a presentation at the SWCA conference. It is important to note that the National WCA is now the International WCA. I will use Kinkead's article to compare and contrast how the SWCA has evolved. It is my intention that with such an approach I will be able to investigate the SWCA more deeply. I had spoken to my professor how to find primary research, and Kinkead's utilization of minutes, conference programs, etc. will be an amazing addition if I could find them.

The other articles I read were from the IWCA website and they included such topics as what a writing center is, how it operates, how to start one and branching out of such ideas. They will be used more for my own background knowledge, as I am approaching this research project intended with an audience that is familiar about the writing center field.

Looking ahead, the next "pet projects" will starting my surveys and getting into gear with my interviews. Now, although I joke about it being my pet project, it is only joking made out of terror, as I know my pet is really a 500 lb tiger that I really need to start taming.