Despite their experience as writing center directors (WCDs) and their knowledge of the literature on writing center administration, the authors wondered why their interactions with upper level administrators (ULAs) so often left them feeling angered or mystified. The all-too-clear evidence of their ineffectual responses to their seemingly…

This essay presents case studies of "course-based tutoring" (CBT) and one-to-one tutorials in two sections of developmental first-year composition (FYC) at a large West Coast research university. The author's study uses a combination of rhetorical and discourse analyses and ethnographic and case study multi-methods to investigate both the scenes…

Michael Mattison's "Someone to Watch Over Me: Reflection and Authority in the Writing Center" explores the problem of audience for tutors' reflective writing. In Mattison's case, tutoring practices and learning are undermined because reflective writing leads consultants to feel as though they are being spied upon by the writing center director.…

Tutoring and conferencing have assumed important instructional roles as composition theory and practice have shifted from product-centered to process-centered approaches. The benefits of conferencing (Reigstad), of peer tutoring (Bruffee), of professional tutoring (Franke), and of group collaboration (Nystrand) have been presented and supported.…

In this article, the author mentions his experience at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) because he thinks it is fairly indicative of recent trends in writing center theory and practice to see literacy as a multimodal activity in which oral, written, and visual communication intertwine and interact. He says this notion of multiliteracies has…

The authors have discovered that working in a writing center setting within the classroom provides pre-service teachers with an opportunity not only to work with student writers one-on-one but also to experience a model of best practice in teaching writing. In this article, the authors describe a program, focusing on the partnership they have…

Explores the ways in which mailing list technology help constitute the specific community of the Writing Center. Attempts to contribute to the practical and theoretical needs of writing centers. Concludes that understanding how these virtual spaces function as a significant part of the rhetorical context of writing centers will provide insight…

States that much has been written about whether writing center tutors should be generalists or specialists. Suggests that these arguments should be restructured around tutor-training theory and its relationship to social constructionism. Seeks a middle ground between the generalist and specialist poles through training theory and pedagogy to…

Continues an ongoing discussion about networked computer technologies and writing center practice. Examines the underlying theories of technology shaping attitudes and actions toward technology. Offers lab administrators a framework for thinking about accounts of technology use they hear; whether they wish to add computer networked technologies to…

Describes the implementation of a writing across the curriculum program at one university's writing center. Discusses solutions to counter the strains placed on the center by this additional program. (MM)

Describes generic problem-solving model constructed by D. Koberg and J. Bagnall that can be used by writing center tutors and that progresses as follows: (1) accept situation, (2) analyze, (3) define, (4) ideate, (5) select, (6) implement, (7) evaluate. Provides tutors with coherent framework and with way of breaking larger framework down into…

Reviews a book that presents a method for teaching writing supported by theory, and that is illustrated with examples of students' and teachers' writings. The authors' methods are based on four propositions drawn from their command of modern discourse theory, philosophy, and linguistics. (NKA)

Recounts the author's involvement in a writing center, noting a dichotomy between composition theory and pedagogical practice. Asserts that writing center directors and teachers need to place their work in a theoretical context, building on theories of collaborative learning and theories of writing as a social process. (MM)

Proposes that writing centers form relationships with Applied Linguistics/ESL to research cross-cultural and cross-linguistic questions, thus fostering research grounded in the everyday work of the center, but with large cultural and theoretical implications. (SR)

Discusses the struggle between competing epistemologies. Warns of problems that arise when a theory or practice states that it is the "true" epistemological foundation for writing centers. Asserts that the stances teachers take toward how best to teach writing are determined by their view of where truth is located and how best it can be accessed…