Unexpected Power Boost: Persona 5 & Writing Center Tutoring


Peer Tutoring, Technology, Tutor Publications, Tutorial Talk and Methods, Writing Center pedagogy

By Niccole Carner When I began working at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Writing Center this past fall (2017), I was in the midst of my first play-through of Persona 5, a Japanese role-playing game developed by Atlus Games for the PlayStation 4. My approach to the first weeks of teaching was subtly and inadvertently influenced […]

November 27, 2017

Toward a Writer Future: New Writing Fellows Leading Campus Collaboration


Tutor Publications, Tutorial Talk and Methods, Writing Across the Curriculum, Writing Fellows

By Ishita Aghi and Erika Gallagher  At UW-Madison, the Undergraduate Writing Fellows program is composed of 50 students who assist other undergraduates with academic writing in courses across the College of Letters & Science. Fellows are undergraduate tutors from a variety of disciplines who possess a passion for helping others. They undergo extensive training and […]

November 15, 2017

Let’s Chat: Considering “Friendly Talk” in the Writing Center


Tutor Publications, Tutorial Talk and Methods, Writing Center pedagogy, Writing Center Tutors, Writing Centers

By Tori Thompson Peters Last year, I had several appointments with an advanced writer named Linda Park who was working on an article for publication about language and cultural barriers in our healthcare system. As we were discussing the project, Linda explained to me that even though she was studying communication between doctors and patients with […]

October 9, 2017

Honoring Tutor Excellence at UW-Madison’s Writing Center, Spring 2017


Awards and Honors, Collaborative Learning, From the Director, Tutorial Talk and Methods, Writing Centers

By Brad Hughes  It’s graduation and award time, and the Writing Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is delighted to honor two of our wonderful tutor colleagues, who are the recipients of our first annual teaching awards for graduate teaching assistants on our Writing Center staff. Every semester there are between 45 and 50 doctoral-level […]

May 8, 2017

Tending Other People’s Texts: Writing Center Tutoring and MFA Workshops


Collaborative Learning, Tutorial Talk and Methods, Uncategorized, Writing Center Tutors, Writing Centers

By Sarah Dimick – Last winter, during a late afternoon appointment, a graduate student in the history department asked me how he might make the final chapter of his dissertation more compelling.1  We’d already discussed what I think of as skeletal concerns: the order of his paragraphs, the clarity of his topic sentences.  We’d already […]

March 13, 2017

How We [Actually] Write: Neurodiversity, Writing Process, and Writing Instruction


Disability and Writing Centers, Graduate Students, Tutorial Talk and Methods, Writing Center Tutors

By Leah Pope Leah Pope has been a Writing Center tutor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison since fall of 2014. She is also a PhD candidate in English literary studies, writing a dissertation that explores representations of disability and bodily difference in Anglo-Saxon England. Alexandra Gillespie opens her essay in How We Write: Thirteen Ways […]

January 25, 2016

Showcasing Undergraduate Research


Big 10 Writing Centers, Collaborative Learning, Peer Tutoring, Student Voices, Tutorial Talk and Methods, Uncategorized, Undergraduate Students, Writing Across the Curriculum, Writing Center Research, Writing Center Theory, Writing Center Tutors, Writing Fellows

By Emily Hall At a large university we are regularly exposed to the original and sometimes groundbreaking research that takes place across campus. Mostly, this research comes from the work of professors and graduate students, many of whom have grants, research funds, and laboratories to support their endeavors. Less frequently do we have the opportunity to […]

April 20, 2015