English composition and grammar help

In summary, Evo Child, a university student and English tutor, is offering to help with homework, review papers, and answer questions for students at PF. She has been tutoring since high school and has experience with English as a second language students. A dedicated HW help forum for English could benefit both native and non-native English speakers on PF.
  • #36
cristo said:
I think it's a great suggestion for a new forum, not only to assist non-native speakers, but also to enable people to polish up grammatical errors from things like graduate application essays, etc etc.

It's a very generous offer from the Evo child to help in such a way. (I imagine there are some other members who could also help out.)

I don't think it would be good as a subforum in the homework forum, though, since that is under the name "Science Education", and such a forum will likely get hidden in there. Maybe as a subsection of GD? Hey, we could always replace P&WA :wink:
So, I'm wondering where I should post this so that I get some serious responses? As was pointed out to me, GD is the last place I should have posted this, since most people needing help probably aren't looking in GD.
 
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  • #37
Feedback forum would be the next step. Greg's on vacation though, I think...
 
  • #38
I was trying to be serious when I said I thought it was valuable, Evo. (Not that my opinion counts for a whole bunch.) Evidently I unintentionally amuse berkeman. I'm not sure if I should curtsy or smack him across the back of the head.

Anyway, Forum Feedback and Announcements seems as if it might be a good place for the suggestion. I think.
 
  • #39
GeorginaS said:
I was trying to be serious when I said I thought it was valuable, Evo. (Not that my opinion counts for a whole bunch.) Evidently I unintentionally amuse berkeman. I'm not sure if I should curtsy or smack him across the back of the head.

Anyway, Forum Feedback and Announcements seems as if it might be a good place for the suggestion. I think.
Yours was one of the serious responses, and I appreciated it. I don't know if feedback will reach the right people either.

I'm trying to reach the people that come here for help. A LOT need English help, but I don't want to spam the homework forum. Help with English hasn't been offered here before and in the past we referred them to forums for that, but it makes sense to offer it here.
 
  • #40
Evo said:
Yours was one of the serious responses, and I appreciated it. I don't know if feedback will reach the right people either.

I'm trying to reach the people that come here for help. A LOT need English help, but I don't want to spam the homework forum. Help with English hasn't been offered here before and in the past we referred them to forums for that, but it makes sense to offer it here.

Especially for ESL speakers (well, writers), having a forum with people familiar with technical terms from very specialized fields may be helpful. Evo Child may need some assistance in those cases.
 
  • #41
Evo said:
So, I'm wondering where I should post this so that I get some serious responses? As was pointed out to me, GD is the last place I should have posted this, since most people needing help probably aren't looking in GD.

I'm pretty sure just about everyone in GD needs help!

I'm just not sure what kind of help we need.
 
  • #42
lisab said:
Especially for ESL speakers (well, writers), having a forum with people familiar with technical terms from very specialized fields may be helpful. Evo Child may need some assistance in those cases.
That's what I was thinking, here they can get both.
 
  • #43
GeorginaS said:
Evidently I unintentionally amuse berkeman. I'm not sure if I should curtsy or smack him across the back of the head.

You could try a little of each and then go with the one that works best. :biggrin:

I think either here or feedback is fine (or you could put it in Philosophy...there are plenty of people posting here who REALLY need help writing coherent sentences). The silly banter just helps keep it toward the top anyway, so more of the people who could benefit can see it. :biggrin:

More importantly, we should figure out where the people who want to seek help should post their questions, at least until a final decision is made whether or not to create a whole new subforum for it somewhere.
 
  • #44
I never imagined that walmart would generate such responses like a tree of a fractal that grew from a single seed. If people got offended on the way, I'm terribly sorry.
 
  • #45
I remember about 5-8 GD threads were created in last 1 yr or so specifically asking for help in English and lots of people helped the OP very enthusiastically.

About 1 or 2 asked for help in translating another language poem/song meaning to English. I don't think they were received any attention or if OP was helped successfully.
 
  • #46
rootX said:
I remember about 5-8 GD threads were created in last 1 yr or so specifically asking for help in English and lots of people helped the OP very enthusiastically.

About 1 or 2 asked for help in translating another language poem/song meaning to English. I don't think they were received any attention or if OP was helped successfully.

Right, I remember some of those posts. Well keep in mind, I don't think what we're discussing here is translation, but rather refining a rough draft (of English) into polished, professional English.
 
  • #47
waht said:
I never imagined that walmart would generate such responses like a tree of a fractal that grew from a single seed. If people got offended on the way, I'm terribly sorry.

I just googled Walmart Fractal, and got a single hit. Amazing. o:)
 
  • #48
Moonbear said:
More importantly, we should figure out where the people who want to seek help should post their questions, at least until a final decision is made whether or not to create a whole new subforum for it somewhere.

How about right off the top level of the forums? "English and Translation Help"
 
  • #49
berkeman said:
How about right off the top level of the forums? "English and Translation Help"
That might look more like it's for teaching English than for composition and grammar help for students.
 
  • #51
Count Iblis said:
The service provided by PF is free of charge, so we may get a flood of proofreading/editing request here.

I don't think proof-reading of papers should be allowed. I envisaged this service as being more useful towards students than researchers.
 

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