Writing research showcased on national stage

Alissa Hetherington has her sights set on being an English high school teacher, and her latest academic venture has her in position to becoming a good one.

Hetherington, a secondary English education major, was among 500 students and faculty presenting research at the International Writing Centers Association’s National Conference on Peer Tutoring in Writing this fall in Columbus, Ohio.

She presented, “An Empirical Study of a Workshop about Paraphrasing for High School Students,” done in collaboration with fellow secondary education major, Morgan Mickavicz.

“Our research was about high school students’ abilities to paraphrase and avoid plagiarism.” Hetherington said. “This is very important for my future career as a teacher, because I gained a better understanding of what high school students know in regard to plagiarism and paraphrase.”

According to Hetherington, this research is an update to an alum’s previous research on the benefits of a writing center’s workshop on patchwriting. The overall research study is being led by Ted Roggenbuck, director of BU’s Writing and Literacy Engagement Studio, she said.

“Morgan and I further adapted the workshop and gathered data from high school classrooms,” Hetherington said. “We found that the workshop benefits high school students and helps them avoid patchwriting, a form of plagiarism.”