Research Proposal

Writing Center Research Proposal

I have chosen to do my research at Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC) for both professional and personal reasons. Professionally, I am interested in community colleges because I intend to seek employment at a community college after graduation. Personally, I am interested in lifelong learning and I expect to take classes at community colleges well into my old age. I intend to focus my research on two areas, the use of technology in the writing center and the effect that non-traditional and returning students have on tutoring techniques.

I chose to focus on the use of technology in the writing center for one of my research objectives because of BMCC’s success with computer technology and information science and support services. Computer technology has changed the way we write and most college classes have some technological or online component. I am interested in researching how the writing center has changed to accommodate this new facet of college education. I would also like to investigate how the emphasis on technology in the degree-producing curriculum influences the use of technology in the writing center, if at all.

I chose to focus on non-traditional students because of the diversity of the student population at BMCC. In fall 2009, 33.5% of the student population was black, 36.7% Hispanic, 14.6 % Asian and 15% White with 31% of the total student population being over twenty-six years old. The fact that BMCC is ranked ninth nationally in granting associates degrees to minorities makes the college, in my opinion, an excellent place to study how non-traditional students make use of a writing center (“About BMCC”).

In my research, I intend to use both primary and secondary sources including, but not limited to, information gathered from the BMCC website, internet databases, scholarly articles and research done on the BMCC Writing Center by a classmate.

Jason Schneiderman, the new Director of the center, has tentatively agreed to my research. I have my first interview with him on Tuesday 9^th November and I intend to obtain signed permission to conduct my research at that time. Because Mr. Schneiderman has only been the director for three weeks, I also intend to interview John Short, the previous director, for historical background. Mr. Short has also agreed to meet with me on Tuesday 9^th November and I intend to obtain signed permission to interview him at that time. Speaking with both the present director of the center and with John Short, who has been involved with the writing center for more that ten years, will give me the opportunity to view the center through the perspective of its past, present and its future.

Works Cited

"About BMCC-Facts." About BMCC. bmcc.cuny.edu, n.d. Web. 21 Nov 2010.

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