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JasmineKerry,ShaneNorth,BreannaSpillman,BrandonSchwartz
Dr.Cassel
ENG1201
15October2015

KeyboardsorPencils:WhatTypeofWritingDoSinclairStudentsUseMost?

Abstract:
Asagroup,weresearchedwhattypesofwritingaremostoftenusedbySinclair
students.Wewantedtoknowiftheywereleaningmoreintherecreationaldirectionorthe
academicdirectionandourresearchfromeveryareabasicallygaveusthesameconclusion:
studentsaretextingavastamountmorethantheyaredoinganyformofacademicwriting.As
wecontinuedourresearch,weexaminedthingsliketheeffectsoftextingonstudentsabilityto
learninclassandwhystudentsmightbetextingmorethantheyareusingotherformsofwriting.

Introduction:
Justlikealloftheothers,ourgroupsharedacommoninterest.Ourquestionwas
assignedtousbasedontheanswersweputinourblogsafterreadingtheWhitePaper
Collaborationandwhopeoplewhohadsimilarquestionsweregroupedtogether.Asagroup,
weresearchedwhattypesofwritingaremostcommonlyusedbySinclairstudents.Wecame
togetheranddevelopedthehypothesisthattextingwouldprovetobethedominatewritingform.
Wealsoreadscholarlyarticlesthatcontainedrelevantinformationtothistopic.Inourresearch,
wediscoveredagrowingproblemandtrendintoday'smillennialgeneration:textingisstartingto


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outweighthewritingwedoforschoolwork.Weplantoshowwhythisdataisconcerningand
waystohelpimprovestudentswriting.

Methods:

Weusedavastvarietyofmethodstoconductourdatacollectiononthesubjectofwhat
kindsofwritingaremostcommonlyusedbystudentsatSInclairCommunityCollege.Ourteam
firstbrokeupintoindividualstoobservethedifferenttypesofwritingthatwerehappeninginside
theSinclairlibrary.Weeachsatinadifferentspotandcloselyobserved/documentedthewriting
trendswesaw.Wethencametotheconclusionasateamthattextingseemedtobethe
dominantformofwriting.Toconfirmthatthiswasthecorrectconclusionweconducted
secondaryresearchbysendingoutalargesurvey.Weusedanemailblastof100studentsat
Sinclairtoseewhatdifferentkindsofwritingtheyusedintheirdailylives.Wealsofound
scholarlyarticlesfromthelibrarydatabasethatreaffirmedourresultsthattextingisthe
dominantformofwritingusedbycollegestudents.

Results:
Ofthe125surveyssent,only78wereansweredandreturnedtous.Thequestionsin
thesurveywereintendedtogetanagegroup,themostcommontypesofwriting,andthe
majorsofthepeoplesurveyed.Wediscoveredthataftertexting,schoolrelatedwritingsuchas
researchoressaywritingandacademicnoteswerethesecondmostprominentanswertothe
questionWhattypesofwritingdoyoumostoftenuse?Thisonlyfurtherreinforcesthattexting
hasbecomethemostprominentformofwritingamongststudents,however,theresultsonly
favoredacademicrelatedwritingin16outofthe77responses.Textingwasselectedin52out
of77responses.


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Discussion
:
TheresultsofoursurveyshowthattextingisthemostusedformofwritingbySinclair
students.Inoursurveyweaskedfortheagerangeforeachindividual,andmostthatselected
textingasthemostoftenformofwritingtheyusewerebetweentheagesof1825.Withthat
beingsaid,moststudentsintheyoungergenerationatSinclairaretextingmorethantheyare
usinganyotherformofwriting.Ourkeyaudience,theSinclairstudentpopulation,willbenefit
fromthisinformationbecauseitmaybringtotheirattentionthefactthatthemoretheyare
textinginclass,thelesslikelytheyaretoretaintheinformationthattheyrehearing.Sinclair
studentsshouldbequestioningwhytextingistheirmostoftenusedformofwritingandwhyitis
suchapriority.Textinghasbecomesomethingthatnooneeventhinkstwiceaboutintodays
world,anditseemstobehowmostpeopleintodaysworldcommunicatewitheachother.It
seemsthatweareunabletounplugfromourdailylivestoevensitinclassforanhourandpay
attention.MaybeSinclairstudentswillnowquestionwhytheyarenotusingAcademicwriting


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morethantheydo.Onewaywecouldtrytocorrectthisgrowingissueistoputourphonesaway
duringclasstime.Maybetheprofessorsteachingourclassescouldenforcecellphonepolicies
moreconsistently.Studieshaveshownthatwhenstudentsdontusecellphonesinclass,their
gradeswhentestedincrease.Thearticle,EffectsofClassroomCellPhoneUseonExpected
andActualLearningbySterlingCollege,talksabouthowcellphoneuseintheclassroomcan
affectthelearningofstudentsandhowitcanhavemoreofanegativeimpactthanapositive
one.Theresultsmaybearguable,butthiscouldbeonereasonwhymoststudentsatSinclair
usetextingratherthanacademicformsofwriting.ItisimportantforfutureSinclairstudentstobe
moreawarethatwritingforschool,likeacademicnotesandessaysshouldcomefirstandthat
recreationalwritingliketexting,blogs,andsocialnetworkingarentnearlyasimportantintheir
educationalpath.

Keywords:
Texting

Writing

CollegeStudents

Sinclair

Distractions

Academic

Technology

Cellphone


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WorksCited
Dietz,Stephanie,andChristopherHenrich."TextingAsADistractionToLearningInCollege
Students."
ComputersInHumanBehavior
(2014):163.
AcademicOneFile
.Web.15Oct.2015.

FROESE,ARNOLDD.,etal."EffectsOfClassroomCellPhoneUseOnExpectedAndActual
Learning."
CollegeStudentJournal
46.2(2012):323332.
SociologicalCollection.
Web.15Oct.
2015.

Kelly,Lynne,etal."It'sTheAmericanLifestyle!:AnInvestigationOfTextMessagingBy
CollegeStudents."
QualitativeResearchReportsInCommunication
13.1(2012):19.
Communication&MassMediaComplete
.Web.15Oct.2015.