This research project was originally a final paper for a class I took last semester called the Process of Writing. It was a course designed to train students to become tutors at the FIU Center for Excellence in Writing, where I am now a proud tutor. Developing a research project surrounding the place I now work at helps me gain new insight into the goals of tutees, and helps me to be a better tutor.
For this project, I surveyed students regarding their writing center attendance, hoping to find a correlation between Cuban-American students and non-attendance. While my results were not as I expected, I still consider this one of my best pieces. It was my first attempt at academic research, and I actually submitted this piece for presentation at the Mid-Atlantic Writing Center Conference in Baltimore, Maryland, and it was accepted for presentation. While I was unable to attend, the fact that my research project was selected for a regional conference such as that one was a big milestone for me, and it made me more confident in my abilities as a writer and as a researcher.
I used the scientific method to carry out my project, and I designed a survey to measure student attendance at the writing center. It was difficult to find respondents to my survey, and I feel that if I had gotten more responses, I would have been able to see more accurate results.
As for risks, I am naturally a very introverted person, and approaching people to ask them to take my survey was nerve-wracking, and it definitely pushed me outside of my comfort zone. I learned about how difficult it is to achieve accurate results. I also learned that not getting the desired results does not equate failure; it equates additional room for growth and a necessary reframing of original research goals.
I plan on attending law school and becoming a lawyer, and lawyers continuously research new laws and legal amendments, as well as researching for court cases. My future career is a research heavy one.
I am definitely a better researcher now than I was before this project, and I need to learn to better interact with test subjects and understand that research doesn't happen overnight.
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