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Who Uses the Writing Center?

What the Numbers Say About Fall 07 Visitors to the Writing Center

Jake Qian ('08, Economics, Academic Support Center Data Analyst)

Class Year

  • A little more than half of all visitors were first-year students
  • 19% were seniors, 9% were juniors, and 20% were sophomores
  • 45% were first-time users; 55% were repeat visitors
  • Only 27 of the 109 seniors who visited the writing center fall term were first-time users

Projects That Writers Brought to the Center

  • The majority of projects that first-year students, sophomores, and juniors brought were academic essays (92%, 90%, and 83%, respectively)
  • 21% of seniors were working on applications, 23% were working on comps, and 47% were working on academic essays

The Concerns That Brought Students to the Writing Center

  • The top three concerns for all class years: clarity, organization, and thesis development
  • The #4 and #5 concern for all class years: integrating evidence and proofreading
  • The lowest concerns for all class years: citations and brainstorming

Visitors' Writing Processes: When They Use the Center

  • 46% of visitors brought a complete first draft; 27% brought a second draft; 29% brought a partial draft; and 8% didn't come with a draft because they wanted to brainstorm ideas
  • Most visitors came to the center with projects that were due that day (22%) or the following day (37%)
  • 18% of seniors visiting the center were working on drafts of projects due more than a week away, probably because of comps and applications.

The Classes for Which Visitors Are Writing

  • English, History, Political Science, and Religion were the departments with the most visitors
  • The classes sending the most visitors were CCST 100, Engl 100, Engl 109, Hist 110, and Hist 182