10/9 Response

        This week was pretty tricky.  For one, Jonathan's registered student athlete didn't show up.  So, I really only got half an hour of co-tutoring.  When the second student came in, he needed help finding research for his paper due on Thursday.  He was pretty frustrated because he had looked for sources for two hours earlier in the day, but to no avail.  First, we asked what he had been using to find these sources.  He said JSTOR.  Because that didn't seem to work for him we decided to try a different database available through the FSU library website.  The student's subject was Canadian healthcare, which seems pretty broad. Yet, we found few articles relevant to his topic on the database.  Most were so specific that they ended up not really applying to his topic at all.  After this, we suggested just typing the topic into the FSU library search.  This option worked much better.  We found a couple books on his subject.  Unfortunately, the student said he planned on finishing this paper tonight....so I'm not sure how much of those books he actually plans on reading, if he even rents them at all.
        Going into the session, I was hoping it would be sort of a brainstorming session.  While the student stated that he needed help finding research, I was hoping that we could talk through some of his ideas.  Unfortunately, the student didn't really want to do that.  The student was able to explain some of the terminology to us, but he didn't really seem to have a stance on the argument.  We tried coaxing it out of him by comparing the Canadian healthcare system to the US healthcare system, but we didn't get much more than a sentence in reply.  I don't think we did a bad job, I just wish we had a little more time.  The student needed to open up a little more.  Sometimes, as a student I feel like a tutor or professor is rushing me.  In this session, I felt like the student was rushing me.  I hope we helped him, but seeing as how he was planning on only working on this assignment for a few hours, I'm not sure he was even looking for help.  I think he was just looking for quick answers.