Angels in the Writing Center


Collaborative Learning, Graduate Students, Peer Tutoring, Tutorial Talk and Methods, Undergraduate Students, Writing Center Tutors, Writing Centers

Rachel Herzl-Betz is a PhD student in Literary Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, pursuing a minor in Rhetoric and Composition. Her research focuses on intersections between nineteenth-century British literature, rhetoric, and disability studies. This is her first year with the UW-Madison Writing Center. I have a thing for personal statements. I realize that I’m […]

February 4, 2013

My Week in Dissertation Heaven


Collaborative Learning, Events, Graduate Students, Higher Education, Student Voices, Writing Across the Curriculum, Writing Center Tutors, Writing Center Workshops, Writing Centers

By Nmachika Nwakaego Nwokeabia.When I found out that the UW-Madison’s Writing Center was offering a dissertation writing camp (or, as I fondly call it, a dissertation boot camp) during this past summer, I knew I had to apply for it. I was obsessed with my dissertation, and this was yet another way for me to […]

October 15, 2012

New(s) from the UW-Madison Writing Center!


Classes, Collaborative Learning, Events, From the Director, Graduate Students, Outreach, Peer Tutoring, Satellite Locations, Science Writing, Technology, The Online Writing Center, Writing Across the Curriculum, Writing Center Receptionists, Writing Center Tutors, Writing Center Workshops, Writing Centers, Writing Fellows

Welcome to a new academic year at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Writing Center! As our Writing Center re-opens on the first day of classes for the fall semester–on Tuesday, September 4–we’ll be eager to welcome undergraduate and graduate student-writers from across the University. And we’re delighted to have 26 talented new undergraduate writing fellows and […]

September 3, 2012

A Room with a View / Writing with Others


Graduate Students, Science Writing, Tutorial Talk and Methods, Writing Across the Curriculum, Writing Center Tutors, Writing Center Workshops, Writing Centers

Unfortunately, the photograph with which I would have preferred to begin this post doesn’t exist. Instead I’ll have to help you reach the right place to recreate the picture for yourself mentally. I’m John Bradley, interim associate director of the Writing Center; thanks for following my lead. I’ll get to the point along the way, […]

April 30, 2012

Why Do You Ask? Questioning the Question in the Writing Center


Peer Tutoring, Student Voices, Tutorial Talk and Methods, UW-Madison Writing Center Alumni Voices, Writing Center Theory, Writing Center Tutors, Writing Centers, Writing Fellows

By Matthew Capdevielle, Director of the Writing Center, University of Notre Dame “So, what are you working on today?”“When is your paper due?”“Are you concerned about anything in particular in this draft?” In the writing center that I direct at the University of Notre Dame, we spend a good deal of time asking questions.  We […]

March 26, 2012

Bridges That Outlast Their Builders: Creating Ongoing Partnerships through Outreach


Outreach, Science Writing, Writing Across the Curriculum, Writing Center Tutors, Writing Centers

During the snow storms last week, I trekked through the layers of fresh Wisconsin slush to the Social Sciences building. I made my journey upon an invitation to meet with a Sociology faculty member, prepared to discuss co-teaching a session on poster presentations. While watching flaky descents of snow through his window, we chatted for […]

March 5, 2012

Joint Staff Meeting 2012: Bringing It All Together


Disability and Writing Centers, Multilingual Writers, Writing Center Research, Writing Center Tutors, Writing Centers, Writing Fellows

On Friday, February 17 the Writing Fellows Program hosted our annual Joint Staff Meeting with the Writing Center. Seven Writing Fellows gave presentations based on research they conducted for their English/Interdisciplinary Courses 316 class. Writing Center instructors served as moderators for each presentation and posed questions designed to help audience members delve more deeply into […]

February 28, 2012

Writing Center Websites and Their Discontents or Dissing the Contents of Your Own Writing Center Website


Graduate Students, Technology, The Online Writing Center, Writing Center Research, Writing Center Tutors, Writing Fellows

All Graduate Teaching Assistants (TAs) who are beyond their first semester of tutoring in UW-Madison’s Writing Center participate in professional development opportunities, known as Ongoing Education opportunities, affectionately, as an “OGE.” At the start of a semester, Teaching Assistants will often see a description at the top of an OGE selection form that reads as […]

February 14, 2012

Exciting Things Going on in Germany


International Writing Centers, Writing Across the Curriculum, Writing Center Research, Writing Center Tutors, Writing Centers, Writing Fellows

As a visiting scholar from Germany at the UW-Madison Writing Center, I sometimes feel jealous of all the things going on here. Having a writing center with 110 people working as writing fellows, writing consultants and as leadership staff, and, even more important, experiencing how the writing center is valued here at the university, seems […]

February 6, 2012

Madison Writing Assistance: Writing and Tutoring across the Community


Community Writing Assistance, Graduate Students, Satellite Locations, Writing Center Tutors, Writing Centers

By Elisabeth Miller and Anne Wheeler, Graduate Co-Coordinators of Madison Writing Assistance. As of the Fall 2011 semester, Madison Writing Assistance (MWA) was active at 7 Madison area libraries and community centers, conducted nearly 200 sessions, employed a staff of 10 people from several different disciplines and programs within the UW-Madison Graduate School of Letters […]

January 30, 2012