Elizabeth Dellinger
Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, VA
I stood in an art gallery, puzzling over the apparently random use of letters in several collage pieces done by one of my friends. The three similar pieces all used layers of newspaper covered by bits of other paper. These papers, mostly small squares, contained carefully handdrawn letters, some darker, some lighter, in a variety of colors and sizes. The images tugged at the edges of my mind, as if they were a puzzle that I should have been able to figure out but wasn't quite able to.
"Kerry," I said, grabbing my friend as she walked past. "Explain this to me."
"Well," she began, "The 'K' always stands for me."
She proceeded to describe how the different letters stood for other names, and how the pieces showed how she felt about different relationships in her life. I nodded my head, listening attentively. Suddenly, as she explained how the last of her collages described her feelings about friends she had lost contact with, I found myself identifying deeply with a piece that had previously confused me.
Surrounding her 'K' in the center of the piece, Kerry had lined up the many letters in a grid-like pattern. A few of the letters, though, were just outlines, some partly erased away. As I looked at the blurred-out letters, their squares of paper still marking a place in the grid-like pattern, I thought about my own good friends who had moved on to other places in life. "Wow!" I exclaimed. "That's exactly how I feel, too, but your picture expresses the feeling so much better than words can."
When I heard Kerry's story, suddenly what was abstract and vague took on a personal meaning. In the same way, when a piece of writing contains some kind of personal element or narrative, it often gives the reader a greater likelihood of being able to connect with the author's ideas. Personal narrative has the ability to bring large concepts about the world and human nature sharply into focus by providing the reader with specific anecdotes with which he or she might identify. If the goal of writing is to bring people together in an understanding of ideas, then the inclusion of personal narrative (when appropriate) can function as an ideal way for readers and writers to find a common starting point.
As writing center coaches, we can help students understand that both thinking about and sometimes including personal elements in their academic writing are powerful techniques that can increase their ability to connect with their topic, and later their audience. Eileen Crowe, in her article "Re-Valuing the Personal Narrative: Developing Metaphor and Critical Thinking in the Composition Classroom," says that, "Experience as evidence is generally viewed skeptically in the university setting. We are trained to look to libraries and databases for reliable evidence, not to ourselves" (38). As a result, students can often feel like they are expected to write in a formal and sometimes almost incomprehensible style, though many scholars are moving away from this (Howard 6). In the writing center, we have an opportunity to challenge the idea that "academic" is code for impersonal, and to encourage students to consider exploring the value of their own connections with their subjects.
Exploring this connection by asking students about the reasons why they chose their topic and what their experiences with it have been often results in giving students a much-needed new perspective on their writing. "Too often, the clients we see in writing centers are lacking a connection, a spark, a perspective" (44), Wendy Bishop says in her article "Is There a Creative Writer in the House?: Tutoring to Enhance Creativity and Engagement." Even if none of these conversations ends up in the final paper, they still give the student the chance to connect with her topic. In my art classes, I've observed that it often seems to be harder for students to create really interesting pieces of abstract art unless they can see it connected to something from their lives, whether it be the model they are looking at or a photo of something meaningful to them. When coaches help students see the assignment as more than just an abstract exercise, they can lead the author to feel increased engagement with his or her own work.
Often, as I talk with students in the writing center, I discover that they do have some kind of personal connection with their topic, some reason behind what they have chosen to write. However, frequently they haven't actually included this personal connection in their writing. "So why don't you use that in your paper?" I ask them. Some students are open to the idea of doing something a bit different while others aren't, due to the either very real or only assumed expectations of their professors or fields.
I recently worked with a student who told me she had chosen her topic because it related closely with her father's career in medicine. I was struck by how much higher her interest level seemed once she started talking about her family and how they had been influenced by the health care system. When I suggested bringing in parts of her story, she declined my suggestion. She felt that the inclusion of personal narrative would make the piece too informal for this particular assignment. Wanting her to retain her sense of ownership of her work and realizing that she knew her professor's expectations better than I did, I did not try to compel her to include something with which she wasn't comfortable. Often incorporating personal narrative into a piece can be intimidating for students. They are concerned about their teachers' expectations, hesitant to put their personal lives into their academic work, or puzzled as to when and how it is appropriate to include their own experiences in their writing. As writing center coaches, we have the chance to assist students to navigate, rather than simply avoid, these complex issues.
One way to help students determine if the use of narrative elements could be appropriate in their work and possibly consider how to include them is to spend time discussing the goals of their projects. In the area of art history, the scholarly field for which I most often write, there are times when my goal is to convey ideas as concisely and lucidly as possible. However, there are other instances when communicating with more descriptive techniques can function to draw readers into my paper and help them connect with my subject. Examining elements of an assignment such as intended length, audience, and purpose can help students and tutors decide when including personal narrative might be appropriate. Often, students in freshman writing or similar classes may have room to experiment with personal narrative in their work, while students at more advanced academic levels will need to be more cautious. In terms of how to include personal narrative, it is often helpful to discuss writing that is familiar to us outside of school assignments, much of which tends to include personal elements that grab the attention of the intended audience. However, even when it is inappropriate to include personal narrative or students decide against it, investigating that personal connection will often help them feel more connected to their subject. In the case mentioned above, just encouraging the student to spend time explaining her personal connection with her subject helped her to focus her argument and to home in on the information about which she most wanted to write.
By valuing students' personal connections, coaches help students to take deeper interest in their writing. When students' preconceived notions hinder communication in their work, we can also expand their ideas about what academic writing can be. Every time we, as coaches, encourage students to think about or even include a point of personal connection in their writing, we are chipping away at the wall between scholarly writing and personal, creative work. There are certainly times when components such as personal narrative are not appropriate in scholarly writing. However, just as hearing the story behind a piece of art can help the viewer to understand it better, encouraging students to take time to consider their own stories will help them to connect more deeply with their writing, and sometimes including these stories may allow them to communicate more effectively with their readers as well.
Works Cited
Bishop, Wendy. "Is There a Creative Writer in the House?: Tutoring to Enhance Creativity and Engagement." A Tutor's Guide. Ed. Ben
Rafoth. Portsmouth: Boynton/Cook, 2000. 44-54. Print.
Crowe, Eileen. "Re-Valuing the Personal Narrative: Developing Metaphor and Critical Thinking in the Composition Classroom." PostScript: Philological Association of the Carolinas 25 (2008). 36-53. Web. 11 Oct. 2010.
Howard, Jennifer. "Unleashing the Beast: Creativity in Academic Writing." Writing Lab Newsletter 31.5 (2007). 5-7. Print.
Copyright © 1976 - 2013 - The Writing Lab Newsletter. All rights reserved.