Winsor

Winsor conducted a study hoping to answer the following questions. 1) how and when do novice employees learn to write effectively? 2) Do they learn to write via model or mentoring? 3) Do they learn in their technical writing courses what they need to know to write effectively on the job? 4) Are there aspects of technical writing that can only be learned at work? Her study focuses manly on the last question " Are there aspects of technical writing that can only be learned at work?" After collecting written statements from 190 seniors who worked every 3 months at college instead of going to school it showed that 53% used a model as their learning method, 38% followed their writing from advice/editing from supervisors, 24% said it was advising/editing from co-workers, 14% say high school training, 7% say classes at work and 5% said work evaluation. Overall students came to a conclusion that communication and writing can not all be learned from a textbook. School is the reins to a horse, we ourselves must learn to control it. During this study a question rose up from the research which was " If Students used models to help than how did they use them and what did they learn from them?" The answer came down to that models were basically just used as temporary crutches to compensate for lack of experience when entering the job and this is why models are useful to students. It was shown that it is possible too to see that models can function like Kuhnian exemplars, which is a shred example of someone's work used to train a student to function like an engineer in an organization. Most of the students had the input of a model in their typical learning pattern which began with a model and seek advice from a co-worker, than submit a draft to the supervisor and use the supervisors feedback to revise. Supervisors provide feedback on all areas of writing but are most valued by the students who ask for advice on their political matters.