Writing Center Research Articles

Understanding the Transfer of Writing Skills through the Writing Center: An Autoethnographic Account

This paper explores the role of the writing center in facilitating writing in interdisciplinary contexts and the transfer of writing skills across academic disciplines. Drawing on my autoethnographic account of a university writing center consultant (writing tutor) at The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) and the psychological theories of learning transfer, I examine how the writing center functions as an academic space of a “contact zone” where writing skills are negotiated and transferred. A central question I address in this paper is: How does the writing center contribute to transferring writing skills across disciplines? This question revolves around the nature of interaction between consultants and student writers at the center involving the navigation through differences in disciplinary writing conventions, language, cultural backgrounds, academic mentoring, personal reading and writing experiences, and varying levels of exposure to academic writing practices. These encounters can result in transformative learning experiences for both tutors and student writers. I argue that the interdisciplinary nature of writing center consultations fosters the transfer of writing skills by creating opportunities for dialogue and negotiation between the consultants and the students of diverse disciplinary communities. Keywords: University Writing Center, writing conventions, contact zone, transfer of writing skills

The Role of the Writing Centre in Enhancing Student Employability a Case Study of a University in South Africa

In the quest of bridging the high graduate unemployment gap of South African graduates, universities introduced initiatives which sought to assist graduates gain the necessary working experience. South African graduates struggle to find sufficient employment due to lack of work experience. The peer-to-peer coaching led by senior students, who are postgraduate students, leads to the enhancement of graduate employability. Therefore, this paper sought to investigate the contribution of the writing centre in increasing the chances of employment for its consultants. In light of this, literature was consulted to reveal the role of the writing centre in promoting student employment. Unstructured interviews were conducted on fifteen (15) participants, who were identified through convenient sampling technique. Thematic analysis was adopted to analyse the collected data. The paper found that the programme equips students to be familiar with the working environment. The study further revealed that the writing centre office is under-capacitated financially. The study thus proposed that the programme must be financially supported by the university, Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) and other external stakeholders to continue capacitating the development of students. The study, therefore, concluded that the writing centre office effectively promotes student employability and increases the working experience of writing centre consultants.

Perceptions of the Student-Tutor Relationship with Chinese International Students at a UK University Self-Access Writing Centre

This paper discusses the findings of a study of the student-tutor relationship with reference to Chinese international students in a UK university self-access writing centre. The study collected semi-structured interview data from multiple cohorts, including Chinese students, writing tutors (professional English for Academic Purposes (EAP) teachers rather than student peer tutors) and the writing centre director. Three types of relationships (asymmetrical, symmetrical and quasi-symmetrical) are thereby identified and discussed. The most reported relationship found in this study was an equal/symmetrical relationship. This egalitarianism was interpreted from the perspectives of a) the learning atmosphere; b) responsibility distribution; and c) differences between the writing tutor and the degree programme lecturer (i.e., disciplinary faculty). The findings enhance the understanding of the student-tutor relationship between professional EAP writing tutors and international students in the UK higher education (HE) context, and pedagogical implications are duly put forward.

Community College Writing Center Visitation and Outcomes: A RAD Approach to Assessing Writing Center Use and Student Success

Community College Writing Center Visitation and Outcomes: A RAD Approach to Assessing Writing Center Use and Student Success

Academic Literacy Support During The Covid-19 Pandemic: Peer Tutors’ Resilience at the Wits School of Education Writing Centre

Academic Literacy Support During The Covid-19 Pandemic: Peer Tutors’ Resilience at the Wits School of Education Writing Centre

Inked: Graduate Writing Groups as Writing Centre Pedagogy

In the post-pandemic era, Canadian writing centres are ideally positioned to organise and support graduate writing groups. At the University of Toronto’s Health Sciences Writing Centre, we have begun offering a weekly, multidisciplinary graduate writing group for students in the health sciences. Inked: the Health Sciences Writing Collective aims to bridge the gap between high-commitment co-working groups and low-commitment accountability groups. We outline how the group emerged, how it addresses graduate challenges, and how it builds self-efficacy and community among members. We argue that this move to group-centred, indirect instruction presents an exciting direction for writing centre pedagogy in Canada.

Creating a Self-Access Academic Writing Centre at a Trilingual University: What Have We Learned in the First Three Years?

The Centre for Academic Writing at the trilingual (German–Italian–English) Free University of Bozen-Bolzano was created in 2021 as a means of supporting student writing at the institution and for carrying out research in academic writing and communication in plurilingual contexts. It offers a number of self-access services, specifically credit-bearing courses, writing groups, and a Helpdesk service. This paper provides an outline of these services, discussing challenges encountered, how they have been addressed and how the services have evolved as a result. It offers a particular focus on the Helpdesk service, with an analysis of the kinds of queries most commonly received from the students. The data suggests that students most frequently access the helpdesks having received negative feedback from a supervisor on their writing, and most generally have queries relating to structure and citations, with linguistic issues rarely addressed.

The Medical Writing Center Model in an Academic Teaching Hospital.

Editing services within academic health centers are uncommon, and few studies have reported on their impact. In this article, we describe our medical writing center's editing service for faculty and trainees at a pediatric teaching hospital and associated outcomes of scholarly products (e.g., manuscripts and grants) over an 8-year period. Data for manuscripts and grant proposals edited by the writing center from 2015 through 2022 were collected electronically from our service request database. Outcome data on publications and grant proposals were regularly collected up to 12 months post-submission. Users were also asked if the writing center edits were helpful, improved readability, and if they planned to use the service in the future. From 2015 through 2022, the writing center received 697 requests, 88.4% to edit a document. Of the documents edited, 81.3% of manuscripts and 44.4% of grant proposals were successfully published or funded. When rating their experience, 97.8% of respondents rated the edits "helpful," 96.7% indicated the edits "improved readability," and 99.3% stated they planned to use the writing center in the future. Our results showed steady use of the writing center and high satisfaction with services. A writing center can be an effective tool to support psychology faculty development.

Centerless? Making Sense of Disruptions in the Graduate Writing Center

Centerless? Making Sense of Disruptions in the Graduate Writing Center

Miscommunication and Mismatched Expectations: Challenges in an EFL Writing Center

Recently writing centers are expanding to Asian higher education contexts. However, there is a scarcity of research from writing centers in Asian settings and from non-native English speaker (NNES) tutor perspectives. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to enrich understandings of the challenges and expectations perceived by NNES tutors during tutoring writing sessions with intermediate level Japanese EFL (English as Foreign Language) students. A qualitative approach was employed utilizing two data collection methods: 16 interviews with writing tutors, and two quasi-focus groups. Thematic analysis of the data revealed five major categories for challenges perceived by NNES tutors: miscommunication, student silence, mismatched expectations, interpretation of teacher feedback and error correction. It is argued that these are the main challenges that EFL writing tutors face and hence indicate the necessity to train tutors how to deal with them. The implications for creating Asian writing centers and tutor training are discussed.

Establishing a University Writing Center: A Lesson Learned from Universities Outside Nepal

The goal of this article is to characterize the university writing center as a crucial institutional resource for the support of student writers and to advocate for its establishment at Tribhuvan University (TU). To achieve this, it explores the factors that prompted its origin and development in the universities of the United States of America. It also unpacks the underlying philosophy of the center by elucidating its pedagogical approaches, current practices, and administrative mechanisms. Building upon the historical contexts of writing centers, it proposes the establishment of a similar center at TU as a means to address the everyday concerns, needs, support, and assistance of the community of student writers within the university domain. Furthermore, it investigates the types and ways of potential academic opportunities that a writing center can provide to enhance effective writing skills and publishing practices in the university. Through a review of the historical as well as pedagogical practices of writing centers in the United States, the article establishes its argument that introducing a writing center at TU can contribute to various forms of support, such as source identification, audience awareness, review and feedback, documentation, etc., catering to writers of all levels, from novices to experienced, in developing their writing skills, habits, and practices. Additionally, the proposed writing center at TU is positioned not only as a productive student support system for a resourceful learning environment but also as a space offering on-campus employment opportunities for students, ultimately fostering a stronger connection between academia and the job market.

An Interdisciplinary Collaboration of the Writing Centre Support and the Nursing Department on the Development of Academic Research Writing

This qualitative study explores the interdisciplinary collaboration between the Writing Centre (WrC) and the nursing department at the Durban University of Technology (DUT) in developing undergraduate (UG) nursing students' academic research writing skills. Guided by the Social Learning Theory, the study aims to evaluate the role of the WrC support in enhancing nursing students' research writing proficiency. Semi-structured interviews in a focus group discussion with WrC tutors were conducted, and thematic analysis was employed to identify common themes and patterns related to the WrC's role in supporting academic research writing. The findings reveal the WrC's best practices in assisting UG nursing students, including creating a supportive and collaborative learning environment that addresses individual students' unique learning styles and research writing needs. The study also provides insights into the challenges faced by WrC tutors and the strategies they employ to overcome them. Furthermore, the benefits of WrC support for students' academic success are highlighted. The study underscores the importance of academic writing in higher education and the critical role of interdisciplinary collaboration in developing students' research writing skills, particularly in the nursing discipline. The findings contribute to the understanding of effective interventions for improving academic writing and supporting student success in higher education.

“But They’re Grad Students, They Should Know This”: Preliminary Findings from a Writing Center’s Hybrid Approach to Supporting Postgraduates in Qatar

Postgraduate research plays an important role in the knowledge economy, yet attrition rates among postgraduates remain a global concern. Numerous studies have cited anxiety around academic writing as a primary cause for declining completion rates, particularly among L2 students. Further exacerbating the problem is the acceleration of academic life where students are often expected to publish multiple papers prior to graduation. Despite assumptions that L2 postgraduates matriculate with requisite English academic writing skills, countless studies suggest otherwise. Such students face significant challenges developing these skills and accessing relevant institutional support, which calls for innovative solutions. This mixed-method comparative study analyzes historical data to understand the impact of a writing center’s hybrid approach to supporting the development of English academic writing skills among L2 postgraduates. Findings reveal that postgraduate students require flexibility in accessing academic writing support and prefer online and distance options over traditional, in-person support. Additionally, findings indicate that program faculty are willing to collaborate with writing centers to support students’ academic writing through a hybrid approach. Study findings also suggest that participants from the hybrid approach are more likely to publish prior to graduation compared to those from the traditional approach. These findings offer important insight for higher education administrators, writing centers, faculty, and postgraduate students as the “onlining” of higher education accelerates in the post-COVID era.

Supporting Incarcerated Seminary Students

How can we provide access to theological scholarship for students in a maximum-security prison? This session will discuss how the North Park library supports seminary students in two different Illinois correctional institutions. We discuss the founding and history of the School of Restorative Arts, how Brandel Library built and managed remote prison collections, and how we support the research and writing of these students. We will then discuss future plans for SRA library services and questions for seminary libraries to consider as they plan to serve incarcerated students. Finally, Tony Pizarro will share from his experience and work within the SRA program and as the assistant director of North Park’s Writing Center.

Tutor Perceptions of a University Writing Centre’s Program of Skills Development for Supporting Multilingual Students using English as an Additional Language

With growing numbers of multilingual students who have first or primary languages other than English seeking the services of Canadian university writing centres where English is the language of instruction, providing these students with supportive and effective teaching and learning experiences is an important part of their post-secondary education. However, little research has been carried out to examine the impact of writing centre tutor skill development programs to foster meaningful teaching and learning experiences for multilingual students. This qualitative study employed focus group research methods to gather the writing centre tutors’ shared perceptions of their skill development opportunities for working with multilingual students. Data were coded and analyzed using a thematic approach. Findings point to multilingual student expectations, tutoring challenges, program effectiveness, and program applicability as elements that impact the tutors’ overall impressions of the skill development opportunities they encountered. While there were still areas for improvement, implementing a program of skill development for working with multilingual students in a writing centre was generally beneficial for the tutors in this study.

Enhancing the Academic Writing Skills of First-Year English Second Language Students at a South African University

The transition from high school to university for first-year students is challenging in academia, globally, and locally. Students must continually provide quality content at university and possess organisational and coherent language skills in writing essays and assignments. They should meet expectations such as demonstrating their academic writing skills, showing meaningful writing, which includes reasoning, and drawing readers’ attention to the pertinent facts. For a few decades, academic support programmes, including writing centres, have been introduced in South African universities to assist first-year students in academic writing. Despite establishing these programmes, poor academic writing persists in many South African universities among first-year students. Therefore, this study explored how the Academic Writing Centre, as a collaborative scaffolded approach, could improve the academic writing skills of first-year English Second Language (ESL) students at a South African university. The study adopted a quantitative method through a descriptive research design. A questionnaire was used as an instrument for data collection. Fifty first-year students who were registered for the Senior and Further Education and Training phases at the faculty of education of a South African university were chosen (N=50; males=14, females=36). Descriptive results revealed that the Academic Writing Centre could be considered a collaborative scaffolded model to improve the academic writing skills of first-year ESL students. The study recommends exploring writing support centres and lecturers further as essential tools that can assist students in socialising the link between entry and the discourse of university subjects’ academic requirements.

Establishing an Online Writing Center for Health Professions Education

Purpose: This study aimed to identify the commonly-used modules of Online Writing Centers worldwide to establish the first Online Writing Center in the context of health professions education in Iran. Design/methodology/approach: This observational study was conducted during 2019-2021. In the initial round of search, we identified 61 eligible OWCs whose websites comprised 14 common modules. Then, we searched the top universities according to 2021 Times Higher Education World University Ranking. We probed the modules of the writing centers of the included universities by using a Google form. We identified the modules repeatedly appearing on the websites of the writing centers, and then reviewed the content of each module in order to find a common label which could later be used for constructing our online writing center. Findings: Our final search yielded 26 universities with 22 common modules. The researchers came to a consensus about the modules to be included and the labels assigned to them. Finally, a website was created, and the modules were included. Value of paper: Online Writing Centers scaffold students by giving feedback on word choice errors and assist them in producing grammatically accurate texts. The Online Writing Centers being designed based on the findings of this study can assist many researchers who intend to publish their scientific findings in English.

An Interventive Collaborative Scaffolded Approach with a Writing Center On ESL Students’ Academic Writing

The expected transition in higher education from students’ school-level assignments to university-level assignments provides challenges and development prospects for students and the academic world. Academic support programs have been introduced in South African higher universities to assist under-prepared university students to benefit from lectures, writing centers, and tutorials. However, the problem of poor academic writing by university students persists. The study aimed to examine students’ academic writing difficulties. English Second Language (ESL) students’ university-level writing experience, and the impact of a collaborative approach between a lecturer and a South African university writing center, to support ESL students with their academic writing, was explored. The study used the Scaffolding theory as a lens. The mixed methods approach was used, with data collected in three phases, comprising a pretest, posttest, and questionnaire. A sample of 216 first-year Senior Phase and FET students were chosen. Findings revealed that ESL students experienced challenges in academic writing skills such as structure, organization, coherence, table of contents, paraphrasing, referencing, and in-text citations. The collaborative intervention between a lecturer and the writing center assisted students to progress in their academic writing. The paper recommends exploring more collaborative strategies between lecturers and writing centers, to optimally support students.

Establishing an Online Writing Centre: Understanding Writing Consultants’ Perceptions and Experiences of Synchronous Virtual One-to-One Tutoring

Considering the insufficient studies of the maintenance of self-access learning support and the implementation of remote writing tutoring during the coronavirus pandemic, this article fills this gap by describing two undergraduate and two postgraduate writing centre consultants’ perceptions and experiences of synchronous virtual one-to-one tutoring via web conferencing. The four consultants’ views were elicited through individual semi-structured interviews, which were then transcribed verbatim and analysed using thematic content analysis. The interview findings revealed that the four consultants all considered synchronous virtual tutoring a viable alternative to face-to-face tutoring. While the undergraduate consultants highlighted the convenience and efficiency of web conferencing, the postgraduate consultants encountered personal challenges and issues with web conferencing. Three recommendations for consultant training and tutoring are proposed: using a collaborative writing tool, sensitising consultants to skills for facilitating online interactions, and reminding students of the ‘netiquette’ for web-based tutoring. In light of the continuing technological advancement and the increasing demand for distance education, the findings and recommendations will offer a point of reference to writing centre administrators and consultants for the implementation of synchronous virtual tutoring and the inclusion of web conferencing skills in consultant training.

A Case Study on the Uptake of Suggestions in Online Synchronous Writing Center Sessions

Despite suggestions being a common speech act used by writing center tutors, very limited research is available on the use of suggestions in online writing center practice. Drawing upon multiple sources of data including the chat transcript, screen recording of the session, and final revised version of the writer’s text, this case study explores the types and frequency of the suggestion strategies employed by a tutor and the degree of writer uptake of tutor suggestions in a synchronous online writing center session. The findings indicate that the tutor’s use of suggestions throughout the session only led to a partial revision of the writer’s text. While factors contributing to the partial revision include overuse of indirect suggestion linguistic realization strategies (SLRSs) and addressing multiple errors at the same time, using multiple and more direct SLRSs appeared to contribute to successful uptake. The observations of the study suggest that, in order to increase the degree of uptake, tutors might consider addressing one error at a time, utilizing multiple suggestion strategies per error and focusing on using more direct rather than indirect suggestion strategies in order to provide suggestions more effectively in online synchronous writing center sessions.