2012–2013 - College of Arts and Sciences - Nova Southeastern ...

The
Write Way
When criminal justice major Alyssa Corso struggled with
assignments in a first-year composition course, she was
reluctant to seek help. “I was horrible at writing research
papers,” she said. Then, Corso met one-on-one with a student
attending the class as part of the COMP Fellows program.
“At first, I was stubborn about it,” she said. “I thought
this would cut into my time for other courses. But, [the
fellows] helped me so much. When we were working on
an assignment about how to write a thesis statement, they
brought in worksheets to help.”
The COMP Fellows program at the Farquhar College of
Arts and Sciences provides course-based writing assistance
to students enrolled in first-year composition courses. The
fellows assist students throughout all stages of the writing
process and with general writing skills, said Kevin Dvorak,
Ph.D., associate professor at the college and coordinator of
the writing center, who leads the COMP Fellows program.
“The program began because the college recognizes a need
to provide much more individualized assistance to firstyear
students,” Dvorak said. “Writing is better learned
when you have one-on-one assistance, when you receive
feedback, and when you explore the possibility of what else
you can do.”
The fellows—both undergraduates and students from the
college’s M.A. in Writing program—attend classes, meet
with individual students, and discuss goals and student
progress with faculty members.
The fellows are unique because they are embedded in the
classroom, which enables them to understand the assignments
and faculty member-student dynamics, Dvorak said.
They also provide first-year students with an opportunity
“to make another connection on campus.”
12 Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences