A Preview of Writing Development

It was the kind of note all too familiar to writing center directors. Professor X in the business division had sent me a copy of a student paper, the printed text barely readable through the professor's copi­ ous corrections. Professor X complained that he had directed the student, Eric, to the writing center, but his final draft was still filled with errors and sometimes incoherent. Who had tutored this stu­ dent? I did, I realized as I reviewed the paper. I remembered the assignment for a freshman seminar class, "Discuss the ethics of the ZZZZ Best case." (Despite a general shift in the academy to gender­ neutral language, this required first-year introduction-to-college course is still called aJreshman seminar.) Eric and I had spent half an hour trying to untangle information about the case-a compli­ cated series of frauds perpetrated by an overly zealous young entre­ preneur named Barry Minkow, who had turned a carpet-cleaning business into a financial empire built on other people's money. Min­ kow had fooled hundreds of investors and numerous accountants, so it is no wonder that Eric and 1 had some trouble following the ins and outs of his schemes. Eric's paper was still confusing when he had to rush off to his next class. He didn't have time to come back to the writing center but vowed to revise, at least to get his facts straight, before he turned his paper in to Professor X later in the day. His final draft, slightly rearranged, was not much better than his first. I sympathized with Professor X, who assured me that Eric's