Category: Writing Fellows

Virtues of Conversation: Ethics in the Writing Center

Collaborative Learning, Higher Education, Peer Tutoring, Tutorial Talk and Methods, UW-Madison Writing Center Alumni Voices, Writing Center Theory, Writing Centers, Writing Fellows

By John Duffy—Most people who have taught in a writing center, or who have given the work any serious thought, are usually skilled in explaining what a writing center is not. That is, those of us charged with helping students, faculty, or the occasional inquiring dean understand writing center teaching often begin with negative definitions, listing the various things that a writing center isn’t and specifying those actions that writing center tutors don’t undertake. And so, we may say […]

October 8, 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

The Rose Pathways Writing Project: Developing a Language for Writing

Collaborative Learning, Peer Tutoring, Satellite Locations, Student Voices, Tutorial Talk and Methods, Writing Across the Curriculum, Writing Centers, Writing Fellows

By Amanda Detry and Molly Rentscher. Each new semester in the Writing Fellows Program presents a range of exciting opportunities and challenges. Having served as Writing Fellows for the past few semesters, we have collaborated with many faculty members and worked with students of all writing levels and abilities. Amid such diversity, however, every writing […]

April 23, 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 […]

March 26, 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

The Madison Area Writing Center Colloquium

Big 10 Writing Centers, Community Writing Assistance, Disability and Writing Centers, Events, From the Director, Graduate Students, International Writing Centers, IWCA, Madison Area Writing Center Colloquium, Midwest Writing Centers Association, Student Voices, The Online Writing Center, UW-Madison Writing Center Alumni Voices, Writing Across the Curriculum, Writing Center Research, Writing Center Workshops, Writing Centers, Writing Fellows

I’ve long argued that writing centers at research universities should prepare interested doctoral students to lead strong, innovative writing centers and WAC programs when they move into their faculty careers.  And that we should do this in systematic and sustained ways.  Being a dedicated, successful, experienced writing tutor is of course a necessary part of […]

February 20, 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