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By Lisa Jordan, Writing Specialist

September 10th, 2024

Malcolm in the Middle is an American sitcom that aired from 2000 to 2006. It features a family of many different personalities, temperaments, and interests; but overall, they are the picture of the American working-class family. The show is largely presented through the eyes of the titular character, Malcolm, but does begin to shift and balance as the series unfolds. It’s a hilarious, boisterous, touching, and award-winning look at the more chaotic parts of our daily life.

            Chaos theory is an interdisciplinary field of study that examines chaotic, irregular, and dysfunctional patterns. In literature, chaos theory can be applied to works that involve the possibility of a multiverse. With a multiverse comes a multitude of realities in which a story might be taking place. The slightest difference in a given reality can drastically alter the outcome of a timeline.

            With this, I have a theory that Malcolm in the Middle takes place in a multiverse.

            Now, this is just a theory-- and it probably is not a very good theory, either. However, this came to mind during my recent rewatch of the series. As an English literature student, most of my writing asks me to analyze a piece of media applying a certain “lens.” In a sense, this means that I am talking about a piece of media from a very specific viewpoint, or for a specific purpose. In this case, I want to discuss Malcolm for its chaos, plot holes, and door slams by using the lens of chaos theory. However, if I wanted to discuss Malcolm because I am interested in the topic of growing up, I could apply various theories of adolescent development.

            You can do this, too! I know, it may not seem like a fun hobby to read into your favorite shows, books, or movies like this-- but believe me, it gives you a much more interesting (and enjoyable) experience. By consuming entertaining media, you are already working your brain to absorb different parts of the plot, characters, and message; when you add in a critical and/or theoretical lens, you are able to really engage your critical thinking skills.

            More than ever, critical thinking is absolutely crucial for being a diligent student and an engaged member of society. We are in an age of information overload: between our classes, work, home life, and the vast, unending Internet, we are constantly taking in text and media that gets filed into the deep recesses of our brains. If we want to make the most informed decisions we can, we should learn how to critically think about the information we take in.

            Literary analysis, as I have stated above, is an excellent way to practice your critical thinking skills. This takes you from just being able to talk about what happens in a piece of media to the why and how it happens. It is most effective to do this when you are looking through a specific lens, which helps to orient you in how you want to think about and discuss the media in question. For example, when talking about Malcolm in the Middle, I might note that scenes often abruptly end with a black screen, and the distinct sound of a door slamming— even if there was not a door anywhere in said scene. At the surface level of thought, this is just a fun quirk of the show. However, when I begin looking through the lens of chaos theory, it becomes a symbol of the severance of one possible universe from another. Perhaps the storyline of that universe simply diverges, perhaps it is destroyed altogether; either way, the door slam is something much more significant than just a sound. Instead, it is a symbol of the possibility of the multiverse captured in the home of the average American family.

            If I were to translate this skill into my personal life, I might begin to think more critically about the ways in which products are advertised; I could study an ongoing social, cultural, or political discourse from many different perspectives to suss out the truth; I may even begin to think more critically about the ways in which information as a whole is presented to an audience, and how said presentation can change based on the source, subject matter, and intended purpose. These are all key parts of becoming an informed and educated individual in our society, and you may begin your journey through the magic of literary analysis.

By Moss Geren, Writing Specialist

September 3rd, 2024

               I’m not sure how old I was when someone first asked me: “What do you want to do with your life?” Over the years, I would have told you I wanted to be a soccer player, a singer, or a cat —there was a stint where I only wore a black cat costume as a kid. People ask that question more insistently when you turn eighteen. I wasn’t sure what to answer fresh out of high school, and this was a deep well of anxiety for me at the time. How could I be expected to know what I wanted to do with my whole life? I wasn’t even the same person I was a few years ago; I’d quit soccer after an ankle injury, determined singing was a hobby, and started dressing up as a black cat exclusively in October.

When I drove my hand-me-down white truck to Daytona State College for the first time, I couldn’t tell you what I was going to do other than “college.” I’d always done well in school, so it wouldn’t hurt to get a little more of that in while I thought on the matter. The only problem was that they ask you what you want to do in college as well, only this time in the form of choosing a major.

Now, I could tell what I didn’t want to do. I knew I didn’t want to go into the military like my parents had; I didn’t want to be a doctor, engineer, IT specialist or anything that I saw listed as options for study. They were all exciting passions for someone else, but I could only imagine myself as miserable if I lived other people’s dreams. Creative types often feel smothered when faced with what we see as repetitive work; it felt stagnant and frustrating. I wanted to do something whimsical, like working at a graveyard giving ghost tours or making props for fantasy movies—something that held surprises and stories. I wasn’t sure how to get in on that, though, and they didn’t teach either subject at the college down the road.

One technique I was given for deciding my career was tracking what I did almost every day. That would reveal my passion. Yet I didn’t think I could easily get a career in watching movies about monsters and dragons. So, I didn’t choose a major right away.

However, when I was signing up for classes and such, DSC’s Quanta Honors sent me an email inviting me to meet the professors and learn more about their program. I thought: “Might as well go to the meeting and see what it’s about. It sounds fancy. I want to be a fancy little lad.” It ended up being a great experience where I learned a great deal about the world and life in general; I especially enjoyed Psychology and World Religions, as they focused on understanding how people and their minds worked.

Joining an honors program at a college was a decent start to the question: “What are you going to do with your life?” I thought on my situation while I took those beginning college classes. I remembered that my middle school art teacher had designed logos for a time, and there seemed to be money in that. Imagine! I could do something creative, and there would always be a need for new branding in our economy. I didn’t see my name being taught in art classes alongside Michelangelo, but working with color and design would be more enjoyable for my personality. I tentatively answered that “art” was what I wanted to do when more adult-like adults asked me about my plans.

An acquaintance of my dad told me, “Well, you better get used to waiting tables.” I was this anxious new adult back then with little self-esteem and no “passion,” so that dismissal crushed me. I was not feeling confident about my life choices. I thought, “Maybe I should stop being impractical and choose something less laughable.” Who was I to think I could ever be good enough to “make it” in creative work?

As I drew closer to the end of my two-year degree, it seemed grim that I still hadn’t chosen a major. Saying I was concerned was an understatement. I wasn’t going to quit in the middle of a degree, but I had half a mind to quit college after I finished my A.A. because the stress was overwhelming me. If I couldn’t even choose something useful to study, I could go be practical and work for a while. People wouldn’t see me as a disappointment then. Maybe I’d become a flight attendant! If I didn’t get motion sickness so often… But they sold medicine for that! Well, I’ll give you the spoiler that I did not end up working on planes. I had my whole life ahead of me, and I felt I was squandering it when I was only nineteen or twenty. It’s ridiculous looking back at it.

Around this time, I was sitting in one of my Quanta Honors classes and talking about how I had no idea what I wanted to do. Professor Benjamin Graydon, who we just call Ben in class, heard me. Then, he said something that I’m convinced altered the course of my life—or at the very least sped things along.

Ben asked me something along the lines of, “Have you ever thought about writing books? You’re a great writer.” I insisted I didn’t have the skill or creativity. I could never create masterpieces like my favorite authors had. Then, he asked:

“Well, have you tried?”

That really made me stop and think. People had told me I was great at writing in my younger school years. I even won an award for a short story I wrote in English class, but I never spent much time creating stories instead of consuming them. I usually thought of essays when I thought about writing, and I dreaded writing papers on topics I wasn’t interested in. I had never even given myself a chance to write creatively. Our society often shuts down creative careers before they start. And I had brought myself down, just like that acquaintance who discouraged me from being interested in the arts.

I’d never tried.

So, I started writing my first manuscript that night. During the next few weeks, I spent hours writing where I found time. It was a horrible book about vampires that will never see the light of day, but that didn’t matter. I enjoyed it. I wanted to do it, even if it didn’t come to anything. And if I enjoyed doing something almost every day, it must be that elusive feeling called “passion.” I slapped “English” on my A.A. degree because I had already done all the required classes, and I suddenly had a plan for what to do next. I felt intense relief as I set a course for my future with plottable steps to follow.

I went to UCF and earned a Bachelor of Arts in English with a focus in creative writing. I learned in my studies that if you’re a writer, you have two jobs. You write, and you support yourself financially with something else. As long as you’re okay with that, it’s doable.

When I thought about what I wanted that second job to be, I thought about the Writing Center. I had been encouraged to work there when I was getting my A.A., but I hadn’t applied. Like I said, I was self-conscious and anxious at that time. However, the Writing Center had stuck in my mind quietly but insistently throughout my second degree.

And that’s how I came to the Daytona State College Writing Center. I can help people with their writing while surrounding myself with people of similar interests. I write my own stories when I get home and dream about being an author while I build my career in writing itself.

I guess my point is that trying out new hobbies, ones you don’t think you’re smart enough, creative enough, or talented enough to do, can lead to finding a new passion. If you want it to happen, if you put in the time and effort, wonderful things can come your way! I didn’t know what I wanted to do fresh out of high school, but I didn’t need to. Because I know now. I’ll keep wanting different things as I age, and that’s okay, too. After my dad retired from the army, he became a fisherman at 50-something years old, so I think we all kind of learn as we go along. It’s never too late to find a new dream, like discovering you want to be an author a few years into college. I don’t think “soccer player” or “cat” are still in the cards for my future, but I won’t dismiss the endless possibilities that wait just around the bend of space and time. Dreams are shy until you get to know them, but they make the most delightful friends.

By Channah Lohman, Writing Specialist

August 26, 2024

Working at the Writing Center, I sometimes feel the frustration of non-English majors working on English assignments. “We don’t need this in computer science. We don’t need this in sports. We don’t need this in math!” After all, we already use English to communicate in our daily lives—why do we also need to take an English class? However, the things most familiar to us are often the most surprising. English is like that. Learning English as a skill, not just an ability, unlocks the tools you need for savvy life navigation, more thoughtful relationships, and a smoother path to success. When you decide to lock in on English as a subject, your life will be impacted for the better.

First, let’s talk about the idea that we “already know” English. This is partly true—and mostly false. Thanks to simply growing up in an English-speaking country, many students have the ability of speaking and reading English. Similarly, simply by having legs, I have the ability to kick a ball. However, that doesn’t make me a pro soccer player. Soccer is a skill. In the same way, though I have the ability to speak, I still needed to learn the skill of English: evaluating and organizing information to communicate in a meaningful way.

Without English skills, we’ll be in for a frustrating and passive existence. This is because English skills help us make informed decisions. Outside of the classroom, society is our teacher, and we pick up the ideas, mannerisms, and things it wants us to know and feel. The problem is that this unconscious learning can be used in manipulative ways. Think of ads that use emotional or bandwagon appeals to sell products you may not actually need, or of statistics framed to look true without really telling the truth. There are also “facts” that are just false—like the one about eating eight spiders a year in your sleep. The most popular theory of that myth’s origin is an article showing how fast misinformation can spread on the internet. The skills we learn in English about finding sources and understanding intent help us navigate these sneaky waters and make sure we’re saying, doing, and buying things that we actually want and need.  

English skills aren’t only for survival, either. The best way to thrive in a society built on communication is to get good at communicating, and that’s exactly what you’re learning in English class. “Communicating” is more than just “talking”. Getting vague instructions, misunderstanding each other, being frustrated because you can’t quite say what you want to say, or getting a “meh” response to something you’re excited about are all symptoms of “talking” without really “communicating”.  We can’t escape the need to communicate well, and the stakes only get higher as you progress in life. Whether it’s a text to a friend or a memo to your future company, you will need to summarize, synthesize and organize information, then present it with ethos, pathos, and logos. This will be when those English skills really make you shine! English skills make us better friends, better teammates, and better people.

It's frustrating when you need to do something difficult for a grade. (I know I shed many tears throughout my math classes.) However, English isn’t just for a grade. English really is a life skill. Remember the difference between kicking a ball and playing soccer. In this case, “soccer” is really the game of life, and playing isn’t optional. Making the distinction between “kick-the-ball” English and the unbelievably important skill of “soccer” English is a wonderful way to inspire yourself towards success both in English and in life. And of course, if you need help along the way, the Writing Center is here to support you!

By Moss Geren, Writing Specialist

March 20, 2024

             There are so many assignments I see coming through where students get to write about their own life— sometimes the professors call it a memoir, a personal essay, a mosaic essay, or whatnot. Basically, you’re writing about yourself and things you’ve been through. Here are some tips about personal essays for people new to personal writing. First, choose a topic that you’re okay sharing with the class. Then, ask yourself questions, but remember that it’s okay not to remember everything. And after you’ve written your first draft, break up those paragraphs.

              It’s important to choose a topic that interests you in any kind of writing; it will make the paper easier to write, and it will make the paper more enjoyable to read. However, you should think about your own comfort level as you decide what is interesting in your own life. If you feel hesitant sharing a story with your friends, it might be better to write about it for yourself, not for a class. It’s okay to not share the juiciest story you have. Choose something that you don’t mind people discussing.

              After you’ve chosen something interesting in your life that you’re okay sharing with a class, the next step is asking yourself questions. Specifically, what are the details of the memory or memories you chose? Use imagery. How did the moment look, sound, feel, smell, or taste? If someone laughed, ask yourself how they laughed. Was the laugh deep and authentic or was it anxious and forced? If you were swimming in a lake with friends, was the water warm or cold? Was the lake clear or foggy? Were there fish? What kinds of fish? Was the ground all mucky and muddy under your feet? Did you think the mud was gross or did you think the squish was satisfying? You want the reader to feel like they’re there in the moment with you, and you can do that by capturing what details you can remember.

              But what if you can’t remember? There aren’t usually sources in this personal kind of story because it’s about your own life. This isn’t journalism. You aren’t stating the facts of the matter like it’s going to be in a newspaper. Memoirs and other personal stories involve remembering what details you can; however, it’s okay if you can’t remember someone’s name, what they were wearing, what order events happened, etc. It’s more about sharing an adventure, an emotion, and how you experienced the moment then getting everything factually accurate. It aims for the truth, but human memory is messy. Plus, it’s hard to remember everything. If you can’t remember exactly what your brother said when he dropped your ice cream cake on your seventh birthday, that’s okay. Capture the essence of what he said on the page the best you can. You are sharing a memory, your memory, not documenting an event for the news.

              Another tip I like to mention is— personal essays aren’t five-paragraph essays like most students are used to. If there’s dialogue (A.K.A. someone speaking), you should start a new paragraph each time a new person speaks. A paragraph can even be one sentence in this kind of writing.

“Like this,” Moss said.

Think about how paragraphs look in books; they don’t generally have too many long paragraphs like how your normal essay or textbook is structured. So, if you’re finding that one of your paragraphs is a page long or even half a page long, break it up some. That will make your story more easily digestible.

            These are the most common tips I give students working on personal essays when they visit the DSC Writing Center. There is so much more I could share, but that might fill a couple of books if I tried. Come to our Writing Center if you ever need help brainstorming a memoir topic, figuring out dialogue, or doing anything communication related. I would love to hear your story. And remember! Choose a topic you don’t mind discussing publicly, ask yourself questions about sensory details, remember that you don’t have to remember everything, and break up your paragraphs like you’d see in a book.

By Channah Lohman, Writing Specialist

March 04, 2024

In 2022, I received the US State Department’s Critical Language Scholarship for two months of study abroad in South Korea. With a less than 10% nationwide acceptance rate, it is considered one of the top language-related scholarships an American citizen can receive. The make-or-break aspect of the application wasn’t grades, need, or the school you attended. Instead, the most important element of the application was the essay.

This is true of most scholarships available. However, it can be hard to know what exactly constitutes a “good” essay when faced with broad and purposefully vague “tell-me-about-your-life” kinds of questions. However, these questions are designed with intention to conceal four main criteria. They are:

1. Investment Potential
2. Cohesive Narrative
3. Emotional Appeal
4. Specific Planning

We’ll start with the hidden criteria, and then address the do’s-and-don’ts of meeting it.

Investment Potential

Let’s clear up a common misconception: Scholarship money is not a gift. It’s an investment. Since scholarship providers usually can’t control what you do with the money after you receive it, their questions are structured to identify the candidates most likely to use money in alignment with their goals. Those goals must be considered. What does the scholarship hope to gain by sending you abroad, or by paying for your school? Who sponsored the competition? What have their past alumni accomplished? When you write your essay, focus less on what you don’t have or can’t do, and more on what you have done, can do, and will be able to give back along those lines if you get the scholarship. That is what they’re looking for. Consider the goals of the scholarship’s organization and tailor your approach to match. Approaching your essay from the standpoint of showing investment potential will put you on the right track.

Cohesive Narrative

Humans are more complex than any one essay can communicate. “Life story”-type questions are designed to see which elements an applicant pulls from their pool of personal experience and the kind of story they weave. Your goal is to form a life narrative that culminates in receiving this scholarship—and then continues all the stronger in the hypothetical future afterwards. Choose aspects from your life which can be framed around your scholarship’s goals. Since my scholarship was aimed at language study, I pulled elements from childhood regarding fascination with other cultures. I omitted things like attending camps in archery and frog-call identification and having an anime phase at 13. Those elements were still part of my life, but they didn’t contribute to my scholarship narrative. Observe your experiences intentionally and screen out the ones that don’t align.

Emotional Appeal

People remember how you made them feel. What gives you an edge is not always the credentials you have, but how you have applied them. Experience outweighs potential. Your job is to show how you’ve put your skills into action, and a great way to do this is through a personal story. A teacher’s resume about how many classes they’ve taught won’t ring as true as their anecdote about a moment in class that truly impacted them and their students. The latter method shows that this candidate can deliver on their promised expertise.

Specific Planning

Your scholarship company wants to see that you can make a feasible, detailed plan. It doesn’t have to be the plan you ultimately stick with; life is too unpredictable for that. Instead, they want to see you have the attention span, foresight, and research ability to both make a plan for the future and justify its components. Be sure you can explain why specifically you want this program, hosted by this school, to achieve your goals.

When answering those criteria, there are elements which can either communicate them clearly or take you out of the running. Those dos-and-don’ts are as follows:

1. Don’t Use Scholarship-ese
2. Don’t Down Yourself
3. Do Frame Around your Strengths

Don’t Use Scholarship-ese

“I am applying for this scholarship because I am enthusiastic about immersing myself in this incredible culture!” …said every applicant ever. If you weren’t enthusiastic about cultural immersion, for instance, you wouldn’t be applying for the cultural immersion scholarship. Similarly, avoid statements like, “I am a responsible hard worker,” and “I am a diligent go-getter.” These “scholarship-ese”-type phrases are overused in applications until they become white noise. Everyone says they’re a hard worker—how can you show you’re a hard worker? An exceptional essay should show your excellence through personal experience.

Don’t Down Yourself

It can be tempting to try for sympathy by showing our weaknesses. However, remember that scholarships are looking for a return on investment. Vulnerabilities can be shared with your friends, not your essay. It may also seem tempting to move from a “self-down” into a “but!”—i.e., “I sometimes struggle with X, Y, Z, but! this scholarship will help me overcome that.” This doesn’t work for scholarship essays because most scholarships are looking for someone who already has a sense of direction. Similarly, don’t say you’re worried about what will happen if you don’t get the scholarship. Emotional appeals of that kind will neither have an affect nor paint you in a flattering light, so avoid showing your weaknesses and instead play to your strengths.

Do Frame Around your Strengths

So, how do we work with those trick questions about encountering obstacles? We cast ourselves as overcomers who have persevered and continue in optimism. Never adopt a negative tone for a competitive scholarship. Questions on personal topics or obstacles are about how you handled those things, not the things themselves. Scholarship committees don’t want to hear how defeated you were; they want to see your resilience, adaptability, and drive. The ideal candidate is one that can turn their situations around and keep moving forward.

There is a final point of advice, and that is to persevere. Scholarships can be fickle, and your success can be as much about your eligibility as it can be about the person who reads your essay. The scholarship I mentioned in the beginning of this post was one success among dozens of rejections, including from other highly competitive scholarships. The important thing is to try and keep trying, apply and keep applying! Sources like the Writing Center are here to coach you through each step of your application. Good luck, and we hope to see you soon!

By John Markham

February 28, 2024

Introduction

Learning styles like auditory or visual are lies. This may sound quite strange to you, given that you’ve probably had to fill out a form helping you determine your learning style at least a dozen times. This probably gave you the idea that learning styles must be important, or at minimum, a little helpful. However, studies (Morrow, 2011) (Fauziah & Cahyono, 2021) have reached the conclusion that they don’t make much of an impact on learning at all, not really assisting in retention or application of knowledge.

But we’re not here to just stomp on the idea of learning styles and then flee. We’re going to look at some alternative methods that might work for you for really retaining information. The first may be familiar.

A Storied Approach

Simply inserting information into a story can increase information retention (Willis, 2017). There are a whole bunch of theories about why this is the case. Some say that it’s because we think in story format or because of positive emotions associated with them. Regardless of the reason, putting the information you need to learn into a story can be effective. For example, if you need remember all the uses for brackets (these things, []) in writing, you could think of it as detectives listing off the reasons for arrest.

“We’ve got him for one count of each: inserting author comments, showing a definition, as well as indicating that the quote’s error is preserved.”

“What a monster.”

“That’s not all. This animal also added emphasis and something even more terrible.”

“Ponzi scheme? Extortion? Murder?”

“Nah, this deviant acted as parentheses inside of parentheses.”

“What a sick individual.”

It should also be noted that some pieces of information already have stories associated with them that you don’t have to come up with. There are often many narratives associated with historical events and even scientific theories that you can draw from. You likely remember some elements of genetics because your teacher explained how Mendel observed them in his pea plants.

MIND PALACES?

You may have heard about mind palaces from one of the many tv shows that featured them. It’s often portrayed as a genius-level strategy that normal people can’t hope to use. The sheer fanciness it’s portrayed with may have given you the idea that it’s fake.

But it’s not, and anyone can use this technique!

Mind palaces are proven and are sometimes called a spatial memory technique (Maguire, 2003). In much less fancy terms, it means that you use a place or route you’re familiar with, like a room at home or your commute to work and lay the stuff you want to know on top of it.

For example, let’s say you want to memorize a presentation for work or school. So, you’d note down the key things you want to remember and then select something to associate it with. In this instance, let’s say that you’re going to use your commute to work and the topic for your presentation is social media. Your hook is discussing how Facebook isn’t as good for attracting attention as other platforms. You might remember this by Mark Zuckerburg looking sick in the back of your car when you get in. This may feel a little strange at first, but it draws on more of your senses to get the information locked into your brain, so the more unusual or stronger the image, the better it’ll be. You’d go through this process for each point, adding the key points in order. Also of note, while this technique is helpful, it’s definitely more time-consuming than other approaches, so it may be best for something that doesn’t have to be learned right now.

A Self-Centered Approach

This one is a little less research-based and a little more freeform. Here are some steps to using it. Here are some steps:

1. Think of something you know a lot about. This doesn’t have to be academic in nature. It could be your favorite tv show or hobby, maybe even a favorite place.
2. Now ask yourself some questions.
   1. Why do you know so much about that topic?
   2. Is there something you did to learn all about it?
   3. Did you enjoy learning about that topic?
3. Given your answers, there are several different ways you could approach your learning. From here, you can figure out what helped you learn the most. For example, you may have learned a second language because you lived abroad. That would suggest that exposure works well for you.
4. Then we cross-apply it. Let’s say you’re studying to become a nurse. To use the exposure method, you might listen to nursing podcasts when you’re commuting to school and work. If you really wanted to go all in, you might also read stories of successful nurses applying the strategies you’re struggling to remember.
5. Be sure that, regardless of method, you relate the concept to yourself. That increases the odds of something sticking with you (Grilli & McFarland, 2011) .

Ideally, this can show you what makes things stick in your brain the most. Don’t be surprised if it’s something unusual. Many people find that things like rhymes or songs make things easier to remember. I only remember all the parts of a cell because of an exceptionally cringe-inducing rap. If you’re curious, don’t say I didn’t warn you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zafJKbMPA8&pp=ygUIY2VsbCByYXA%3D.

Conclusion

So, as a final takeaway, I’d recommend that you select one of these methods and see if it works for you. If it does, go ahead and start applying it not just to your writing, but other subject areas. And as always, if you have any writing or communication questions, reach out to us by phone, (386) 506-3297 , email, CWC@DaytonaState.edu or the chat found here: https://www.daytonastate.edu/library-and-tutoring/writing-center/index.html! Check out our socials too: Facebook/Twitter (X)/Instagram!

Also, thank you for reading! Have a great day!

References

Fauziah, H., & Cahyono, B. Y. (2022). Prevalent beliefs in learning styles myths: Indonesian research trends on learning styles. Issues in Educational Research, 32(4), 1384-1402. https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/prevalent-beliefs-learning-styles-myths/docview/2821325358/se-2

Grilli, M. D., & McFarland, C. P. (2011). Imagine that: self-imagination improves prospective memory in memory-impaired individuals with neurological damage. Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, 21(6), 847–859. https://doi.org/10.1080/09602011.2011.627263

Maguire, E. A., Valentine, E. R., Wilding, J. M., & Kapur, N. (2003). Routes to remembering: the brains behind superior memory. Nature neuroscience, 6(1), 90–95. https://doi.org/10.1038/nn988

Morrow, V. M. (2011). The relationship between the learning styles of middle school students and the teaching and learning styles of middle school teachers and the effects on student achievement of students' learning styles and teachers' learning and teaching styles. https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/relationship-between-learning-styles-middle/docview/894768901/se-2

Willis, J. (2017, September 12). The neuroscience of narrative and memory. Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/article/neuroscience-narrative-and-memory#:~:text=The%20experiences%20we%20have%20with%20narratives%20starting%20as,the%20narrative%20pattern%20becomes%20a%20strong%20memory-holding%20template

By B. A. Wasden - Part-time Tutor

November 8, 2023

Franklin sat in the bed of his truck; a beer hanging loosely in his hand. The alcohol had begun its ascent up his body, the weight of the day melting away. The stars were like headlights in the sky. Franklin craned his head; he hadn't looked at the sky in... He didn't know how long. Long enough that the sight of the swirling night sky provoked in him a rare sense of melancholy. Maybe he would cry? He hadn't cried in a long time. After taking a swig from his half-empty bottle, he crumpled into himself. His gaze was pulled down to the forest ground. A frown deepened on his face and a sigh creeped out. The forest floor was laden with the old mush of dying and dead leaves. 

A beetle, just barely visible in the moonlight, skittered off into the deeper darkness. A leaf not yet crumpled and emended in the ground blew away with a sudden breeze. The truck started to shake. The wind picked up with a start. A howling gust whistled through the canopy. Franklin seemed not to notice, perhaps dulled by sadness or booze. He smacked his mouth loudly, a strange, unwelcome taste dancing on his tongue. His truck shook ever more violently. 

Franklin pushed himself up from his truck when he finally noticed, catching himself with an unsteady sidestep. It wasn't just his truck shaking – everything was. The trees, rocks, and twigs hummed with a rhythmic vibration. The strange taste grew thicker and more potent in Fraklin's mouth: it was the taste of aluminum. 

The environment – the ground, the rocks, and the trees – screamed a howl of terror and pain that was pulled from the depths of these inanimate things. Franklin desperately covered his ears trying to block out the noise. But he could not. Even his body was screaming, and his skin crawled and thumped as it too began to produce a horrible shaking screech. He fell to the ground, his fingers gripping tighter and tighter to the back of his head. If he could crush his skull, he would – anything to stop the horrible sound. 

The moonlight took on a blinding shine, and the moon itself hung over Franklin when his eyes shot open, its bulbous form large and opulent in the night sky. Light poured across Franklin's face and tears streamed down his cheeks. It wasn’t the moon that hung over Frankin. No, it was something else entirely. The sound stopped suddenly – all the noise stopped – and nothing moved. Franklin was frozen. He started to rise into the air, closer and closer to the moon that was not a moon.  

Franklin could not remember what happened after. There was only the room, a wet, gray room. He was covered in some kind of slick film that reminded him of the bile his dog would throw up after eating grass. When Franklin sat up, his body felt raw and sore. He looked around the room to find the walls and ceiling had a shine to them, a glistening puddle-like quality. Orifices covered the wall randomly, seemingly placed without thought. Franklin stood up. His body felt hollow, as though something had been scooped out of him and placed somewhere far away.  

He began to move through the room. The floor below him sloped, as if a half-sphere had been dug out of the spot. Franklin stepped awkwardly onto the lip of the shallow pit. The room twisted; the walls took on a curved appearance. Opposite Franklin, the wall folded away creating a crevice. It looked like an open wound, bleeding black blood. As Franklin stood there, an instinct flooded over him – an instinct older than him, older than even the human race. He ran toward the door, anger clenching his heart in a vice grip. The pit threw off his stride. He fell violently to the ground, blood spewing from his nose. When Franklin pushed himself up, the floor greedily soaked up the blood. A static zap crawled its way across his body and an invisible string pulled him by the waist. He rose from the floor and the dark cut in the wall stared at him. 

Tendrils swam their way toward him. They were like eels, and they danced upwards and downwards through the air, taking their sweet time as they approached Franklin. The instinct came once again to him – he bit and gnashed at the air, spit madly falling from his mouth. The tendrils were the same gray as the walls, but were perfectly smooth, with no fissures or defects. Franklin tried to bite one as it came close to his face. The tendril pulled back, quickly avoiding the bite and moved to his arm. The other did the same, entrapping him slowly and meticulously leaving his head for last.  

Up his face they went, inch by inch, the cold tendrils sucking the warmth away from him. They closed his mouth, painfully holding it closed by the chin. They covered his eyes last, and the last thing Franklin saw was the black wound in gray flesh staring at him.

By Percy Mercer — Writing Center Coordinator

October 30, 2023

Artificial Intelligence has wiggled its way into higher education, and it’s here to stay — so we’re giving it a seat at our table. 

Earlier this semester, three of our full-time staff presented at the University of Central Florida’s first annual Teaching and Learning with AI conference, which hosted hundreds of higher education faculty and staff from across the nation coming together to discuss how to best use artificial intelligence to support students on their academic journeys. Lisa Jordan, Hosanna Folmsbee, and I found fantastic company amongst similarly minded individuals who hope to harness the strengths of generative artificial intelligence to not only keep up with technology, but to prompt the students at our institution to raise the bar on what they consider exceptional work. 

What is our solution to skyrocket success while fostering critical thinking and the art of communication? It’s simple: we want to use generative AI as a peer, rather than a professor. 

The presentation we gave, while offering a simple idea, prompted a discussion with our listeners that allowed us to workshop exciting ideas on how to go about curating a well-formed, in-class peer review with AI that allows students to learn from the combination of professor, peer, and AI. Whether it comes in the form of using ChatGPT to correct grammar and take part in brainstorming or harnessing it to create an AI avatar students can have a discussion with, using the AI as assistive technology for students has been — at least in our experience and that of our peers — wildly successful. Opportunities like gamification of classwork through AI have only boosted these positive outcomes, which further supports the idea that embracing generative AI as addition rather than supplementation is the direction we ought to be moving in. 

Realistically, what does this look like? The answer can vary widely depending on teaching style and subject. Writing Specialist Lisa Jordan implements ChatGPT in her workshops by teaching students its weaknesses with critical thinking so that while completing their coursework, they use a mixture of their own critical thinking and AI analysis. Online Writing Specialist Hosanna Folmsbee literally uses ChatGPT as a peer during in-class peer review, where students sit together and discuss each other’s work to see where it can better be improved. I use AI to teach students how to create outlines and show examples of strong argumentative or research essay structure. We use the freely accessible version of ChatGPT so that students are aware of what is available to them, and actively research opportunities to further integrate AI into our work.  

As a Writing Center, our goal is not to create better papers — it’s to create better writers. By implementing ChatGPT and other generative AI into our work, we provide students with visual examples of work they’re expected to conduct, more time to focus on the aspect of critical thinking and development of research, and a peer they can examine and ask questions to better understand the pedagogy they’re taking part in.  

Have thoughts? Want to talk AI? Reach out to me at percy_mercer@daytonastate.edu.  

By Andrew Goldberg — Peer Tutor

July 19, 2023

As a student and a tutor, the Writing Center Blog has been crucial in not only getting help, but also helping other students. This blog allows us to show you guys what we do here at the Writing Center, in hopes of making you feel comfortable in seeking our help. As tutors, our job has, and always will be to help as many students as possible. Through embedded tutors, workshops, our one on one sessions, and our facilities like the Attic, we have managed to help an inconceivable amount of you guys, and we could not be more proud.

Having said that, one of our lesser known methods is our Blog. With 26,000 students at Daytona State College, it is nearly impossible to help all of you guys. This blog has allowed us to expand our outreach to as many of you as possible and to let you guys know we are here to help. But along with that, it has also shown you guys what we do here at the Writing Center, and gives you guys an example of the kind of writing we enjoy. We understand that asking for help is one of the hardest things anyone can do, and showing your personal writing to someone you may have never met before can be one of the most vulnerable things you can do.

When I was a student here, it took me an embarrassingly long time to reach out for help from the Writing Center. I entered college lacking the writing skills necessary, leading me to not do as well as I wanted my first semester. It was not until I reached out to help from the Writing Center my second semester that my writing drastically improved. I not only got good at it, but I found a way to enjoy it, and now I am a tutor wanting to help other students do the same. I understand how difficult it is to show a stranger your writing because I was in that same situation. I benefited from having an embedded tutor, someone who I was able to get to know and be comfortable showing my work to. Sadly, that is not possible for everyone, and this blog allows us to show every student who wishes to read it who we are. 

We want you guys to understand that we are human too, and we are all in this together. So whether it's through reading a post about why trains are great, or a spooky short story, we want you guys to know who we are. We all have different personalities; we aren't just some robots. Even though gaining a personal connection through an embedded tutor may be a better way for you guys to get comfortable asking us for help, we sadly cannot have an embedded tutor in every class.

So, grab some popcorn, read through some of our blogs and get to know us. And when you are writing your next paper and you are feeling stuck, or need help writing a thesis, or even just a second set of eyes, we will be here ready to help. 

By Moss Geren — Writing Specialist

July 18, 2023

I have been wondering about why a Writing Center would even need a blog. Would someone ask a math tutor why they’re practicing new equations while they weren’t with a student? Why would an athlete go to the gym during the off-season? Why is it that artists need to practice when they’re already skilled at drawing? It’s important to continually immerse ourselves in the craft. If we are using our writing skills in our professional practice, it helps us keep our minds fresh and furthers our knowledge.

Even though I am very well-written with my bachelors in English, I can still learn from my colleagues. When I was writing one of my blog posts, Writing Specialist Lynn Blanton looked over it for me. She taught me a comma rule I didn’t know! Percy Mercer gave me insights into journalism when I interviewed Fernanda about our embedded classes. Jamie Montgomery told me that my scene felt rushed when I was revising Hailstone: The Honest Butcher— and the story became so much better because of that. Through making blogs and working together, we teach each other more about writing. This helps us help students with their work.

I should repeat that we look over each other’s blogs. This is especially helpful for new tutors and writing specialists, since we can practice giving suggestions for drafts in a controlled environment. It helps us rehearse what we would do in sessions.

Along with my degree, I like to have something physical to show my credibility as a writer to students. I can also share my expertise on topics the students may be interested in, like the Aspiring Author’s Guide I have been working on; the first section includes my experience querying literary agents. This sense of credibility helps students feel secure that they are getting the help that they need from a capable source. They can also get to know me a little better and not be as nervous to approach me. Sometimes asking for help can make students anxious.

That being said, writing is also super fun for the Writing Center folks since it’s our passion. I was so excited to learn I could share my writing at work– it quickly became one of my favorite aspects of the job. I could help students with their writing while working on my own. Energy stays high at the Writing Center by giving them this opportunity; we update the blog together, share stories with each other, and encourage one another. I'm delighted to be able to work on our little blog more and continue doing what I love.

The blog gives us something to work on together with all the members of the Writing Center. I collaborate with the other writing specialists to create educational graphics and the like, but the tutors can get in on the blog in their spare time as well. It gives us something to do as a group and bond over. 

These aren’t the only reasons a Writing Center should have a blog, but I did think they are some of the more important points. In the end, many Writing Centers have a blog, and there’s a reason for that; it keeps us in practice, teaches us new skills, helps us rehearse what a session will be like, gives us more credibility, excites workers who love to write, and encourages collaboration with the whole Writing Center.