Meet Ailyn Del Rio, author of "But You Are a Writer: Analyzing First-Year Composition Courses to Foster Student Confidence in Writing"
Ailyn Del Rio graduated from Rider University in December of 2023 with her bachelor's degree in English with a concentration in Writing. She works as an Editorial Assistant at W. W. Norton, specializing in Composition and Literature college textbooks. She devised her research topic towards the end of her second semester as a tutor for a Seminar course in Writing and Rhetoric, when her students would share their newfound confidence in their writing skills. Del Rio investigated the link between student confidence in writing and first-year writing and composition courses to help students build their confidence. Working with her mentor, Dr. Megan Titus—who also taught the course where Del Rio conducted her survey, she developed a survey for students to fill out at the start and end of the semester. In it, she asked students about their confidence, writing process, and which assignments they found helpful in improving their writing skills. She also selected two to three students from three different sections to interview twice during the semester and interviewed the instructors of each section twice as well. Del Rio combined the core ideas of her 91-page senior honors thesis, upon which her YSW article was based, and YSW’s revisions of her returned article into her current research. This strategy helped her “really nail down what the most important aspects of my research were,” said Del Rio, “[That] helped me rebuild my article into something much stronger and more concise.”
After beginning research for her article, she found the current literature lacking discussion of the effect of first-year writing courses on student confidence. First-year students, in particular, struggle with uncertainty, especially in the new and unfamiliar college environment. Del Rio believes that her research can help build their confidence in at least one area, which can hopefully be applied to the rest of their academic and professional careers.
She described working with Dr. Titus as essential to her writing process. “I never would have done this without [her],” said Del Rio. “She told me about YSW, helped me revise my work for submission, and encouraged me to keep going throughout the process.” Furthermore, Dr. Titus
helped Del Rio find sources for her to reference as she conducted her study. Del Rio also worked with Dr. Colin Charlton, her Faculty Advisor Editor, who “actually wrote about a few of the same articles from my literature review,” Del Rio noted in pleasant surprise, “so he had a deeper understanding of the gap in my research.” Del Rio appreciates her time working with YSW for having taught her how to write and revise a research article. Not only was she able to develop her writing and research skills, she built connections and was able to participate in a thriving academic community. She highly recommends that aspiring YSW scholars speak and collaborate with their professors, faculty advisors, and YSW editors. “Ask [them] lots of questions,” Del Rio advised. “Be a sponge to everything you learn, and be prepared to carve out some dedicated revision and editing time each week throughout the summer.”
“Publishing in YSW is an incredible first step in my researching journey,” Del Rio said. She plans on continuing to study composition and rhetoric in graduate school.
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This post was initially developed through a partnership between Dr. Cutrufello’s Fall 2024; Digital Writing students who interviewed the author and drafted the posts, and Dr. Beam’s Fall 2024 WRT410: Editing and Style students, who handled the first round of edits. Shelby Welch edited it and updated it for publication.
