11/6

I had two sessions today, the first for 30 minutes and the second an entire hour. The first student came to me with a rough draft of a research paper on a topic of his choice. He was interested in writing about Anime and how it was not only introduced to America but in what way it has influenced American culture. Previously, he'd written a smaller paper on a similar subject and planned on expanding upon this essay but he only had a research question, not a thesis statement, and seemed to be somewhat confused as to how a thesis and a research question differ. I explained to him that a thesis is essentially a statement of how you plan on answering the research question. We worked together on developing a working thesis and once he wrote it down he sort of looked at me like, "Oh, this is it? That was easy." I am always a little surprised each time a student comes in with an incorrect/minimal idea of what a thesis statement is and how to write one. They ask me "Ok, so how should I say this?" And I do my best to help them develop one on their own by asking them what they think is important to discuss within the paper; how can they most effectively answer the research question? I guess I'm surprised because all throughout high school the idea and structure of a thesis statement was drilled into my head in every single English class I took. I realize that many students experience writing in different ways, all teachers have their own methods of teaching, not everyone receives the same kind of information, etc. But being in college, I would have thought that professors would be clear about what they expect in papers, for instance, going over strong thesis statements, how to go about writing one, and so on. Perhaps some teachers already expect students to know how to write a thesis statement/what it is? Or perhaps some teachers don't even care if there is a thesis? I find the latter a little less likely but you never know, therefore I urged the student to speak with his teacher about the thesis we had worked on together and ask what she expects in a thesis statement. 

My second student was working on her prospectus for engineering and was simply asking for a read-through to see if she was using grammar correctly, if the sentences made sense, how the paper "flowed." He language was very clear and strong, I understood what she was discussing even though I have absolutely no knowledge pertaining to engineering. The only things I had to point out to her were her use of articles (when to use them) and which sentences to possibly consider rearranging to strengthen the argument. If she was to read through the paper on her own she would easily be able to spot most of the grammar/syntax errors but she said it was very helpful to have a second set of eyes to look over the paper and tell her if everything makes sense.