My School Writing Center - Essay Example

My School Writing Center Upon arriving my classes at Kansas University, I came to realize that my knowledge of the English written grammar rules was quite limited and not really up to the academic level being expected of me by the university. As I spent time with other Chinese international exchange students, it became evident that we all shared the same problem. We all needed help in writing our English papers if we were to pass any of our classes. At that time we all faced one of two choices, either we try to find outside help with our writing problems and hope to get it resolved quickly, or we could march ourselves down to the university writing center and see what kind of help the academic professionals could offer us. I chose to do the latter. That is the rationale behind the poster that I created for this class. If you really want the proper academic help in writing your papers, the writing center is the best place to go. They will help you create the writing miracle that you need in order to pass your classes. That is a guarantee that I swear by. Most international students come to study in the United States with either a very limited amount of knowledge about the English language or an almost childlike grasp of the language itself. The ability of an international exchange student to express himself in the academic language of the institution is hindered by his embarrassment at being unable to express himself as fluently as his citizen classmates. These are the predicaments that, as an international student, I found myself in. These are the very situations that, upon receiving my first semester grades, I realized I had to get myself out of. But how would I do it? Where would I turn to for help? I knew I needed help. Although my exchange family was very willing to help me over the language barrier that prevented me from shining academically, I knew that their help could only go so far. I decided to get myself together and go down to the student center in order to seek their assistance on the matter. They were very accommodating and understanding of my situation. They knew exactly where to send me for help, our local university's writing center. I will admit that I did not even know the center existed before and I was very happy to learn about it because I knew they could offer me the kind of help that I needed the most pertaining to my academic needs. The first thing that I noticed upon reaching the academic writing center was that I was not the only international student who was having problems when it came to writing my academic papers. European, Asian, Middle Eastern, and other countries were also there, seeking the professional help of the writing assistants. It was like being at the United Nations. That was where I met other Chinese students who had already been using the Writing Center for quite some time already. That meeting helped me realize that I was not alone and I was not stupid. I had found a home where I could get the academic help that I needed while also connecting with other exchange students who were more than happy to help me out with my written and spoken grammar problems. As Chinese students living in China, we never had to worry about how well we spoke in English or whether we could write academically acceptable English papers. We were in China after all and we only needed to know how to speak in the Chinese language of our region. We did not need to know the difference between batter and butter. It was not necessary to dot every I and cross every T in our papers. We got by. But studying in America is a totally different ballgame and we have to play by the American academic rules of writing and spoken grammar. We all need the kind of help that the university writing center offers to its international student community. All we have to do is take the help being offered. Chinese international students no longer need to be afraid of getting low grades in their essays. There is no need to suffer the sense of hopelessness and feeling of isolation and stupidity because we cannot write our papers the way that our American classmates can. The writing field has been leveled for us. Our American University hosts are more than willing to help us navigate the minefield of academic paper writing. Just walk on down to the Kansas University Writing Center with your English essays in tow and feel the difference that their academic guidance can truly make in your life. That is how I felt when I first had them assist me with my written paper and that is a sentiment that I hope to share with all of the Chinese international students on campus. I chose to use red ink in writing my poster in order to call attention to the message that I was trying to deliver. As the posters are going to be posted in the high traffic areas of our university, I knew that I needed to use a text color that was going to pop out at the audience. Another reason that I chose the red color font was that of the traditional Chinese belief that red is the color of luck. When you are an international exchange student who is trying to find his way through the maze of academic requirements, you truly need all the luck you can get. The Chinese students are sure to understand that color scheme and simply get the message. The Chinese character translations were meant to help the Chinese students who are still not well versed in the English language understand what the poster is all about. In Chinese, I am asking them about the problems and fears that they face as international students and I am letting them know that they don't need to struggle alone. The student writing center is there to help them out. The slogan I chose for my poster is “Write with us.” All of the writing center assistants are highly skilled and professional individuals whose writing talents cannot be questioned. They are some of the best in the business and we are lucky to have them on our side, rooting for us to succeed in writing the perfect academic paper. “Write with us” is actually a word of encouragement that one of the writing assistants told me when I was feeling down and hard on myself about my meager English writing skills. I did my best to “Write with them” and came out a much better, more confident, and well rounded international student in the process. I chose the blue, red, and yellow colors for the bird because those are relaxing colors that I hope will encourage the other Chinese international students to come forward and seek the help that they need from the writing center. I know that the bird looks like a chicken and I specifically intended for the bird to look that way because of the American term "chicken feed" which means, it's easy. That is what I want the other students to come to realize, writing the academic papers will be as easy as chicken feed once they write with the help of the academic writing center. Choosing to place the posters in the restrooms, cafeteria, and other high traffic places in the university was not a hard choice to make. I wanted to get my poster the highest visibility possible so any place where there is a conglomeration of students for more than 5 minutes is bound to attract attention to it. By placing it in these areas, I am hoping that the news that the poster says will be able to travel by word of mouth as well. After all, word of mouth advertising and promotion is the best way to get any message spread far and wide in a short amount of time. Needless to say, I was very excited to work on this particular project because I truly want to help the Chinese community that exists within our school. They should not be hiding on the sidelines, hoping not to be noticed because of a perceived academic drawback. Rather they should simply seek the correct kind of help in order to continue to shine academically as they did when they were still in China. Read More