The Writing Center is a tremendous place for students to hone their craft in writing. Associates in the Writing Center can help students improve their writing skills in a variety of ways. However, in the academic world, writing and research go hand-in-hand. Learning to provide quality research assistance to your student peers is just another tool in your toolbox to providing top-notch service and upping their writing game. It will also make you a more well-rounded scholar.
This research guide will help you better understand the research process and the skills necessary to help your fellow students when they need not only writing help, but research help as well.
Sometimes, a reference transaction may exceed the knowledge or skill sets you feel comfortable with. In this case you have a couple of options for setting up a consultation for the student. Consultations are one on one appointments where students can receive research support from a trained Librarian or staff member. It’s individualized and sometimes the best way to find the right answer.
Using the Writing Center software, you can set up a consultation with the Library Research Specialist that works in the Writing Center. This person is a Library staff student worker, set up specifically for helping fellow students with research in the writing center. Having a fellow student aid in the research may make the student feel more comfortable with having their research needs met.
Whether you help the student, the Library Research Specialist, or a professional librarian, our end goal is to make sure the student gets the best possible help for their paper or project they can.
One last thing to mention before getting into understanding the research process and how to help our students, is that we always need to record our transactions. Always! Recording transactions helps us track the data of who is asking research questions, when they are asking them, and what kinds of questions they are asking. This data get compiled and is used for analytics and accreditation.
To record this data, simply take down the nature of the research question (i.e. what was the student trying to find) and how you helped them (what databases and keywords you used to successfully complete the transaction). You will also want to note the time and length of the transaction and if possible what class or project the query was for. Then, simply take these notes and give them to the Library Research Specialist if they are there, leave them for the next appointed time they are in the Writing Center, or email them the notes. They will enter this information into our analytics tools.
