Through the Peer Writing Tutor Alumni Research Project (PWTARP), the authors have set out to explore and document what peer tutors take with them from their training and experience. The Peer Writing Tutor Alumni Research Project has made it possible for the authors to sample and analyze more systematically the reflections of 126 former tutors from…

Writing centers are places not only of practices and policies but also of inquiry. Increasingly, research conducted in writing centers is informing the theoretical bases as well as the day-to-day goings-on in our various local contexts. In turn, the situated daily activity of each writing center as well as the theory or principles behind it…

Discusses general issues related to attitudes towards writing, which may be of interest to those working with English-as-a-second-language students, especially students coming from educational settings where writing is not traditionally taught. Presents the practice of the Writing Center at Central uropean University, one of the few centers in…

Argues that the challenge for writing centers to continue to be viable lies not so much in responding to changing educational demands as to continuing to meet the ongoing demand for competent writing in the academy. (NH)

Discusses the experiences of one student as she used her journal writing and the resources of a writing laboratory to adapt her expressive writing to the requirements of academic discourse. (RS)

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)

Offers perspectives of four different writing lab personnel, namely: (1) a new peer tutor with writing skills but no formal training in teaching; (2) a graduate teaching assistant in writing with no tutoring experience; (3) an experienced tutor reflecting on what he wished he had been taught; and (4) a director-tutor sharing her lab experience.…

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…

Reports experiences and observations during a visit to a writing workshop where elementary school students were learning how to revise and edit their compositions. (NKA)

Describes how the Writing Lab at Hazelwood West High School, in Missouri, was designed and initiated. Reveals that computers are used there: (1) in teaching whole classes, (2) with individual students, (3) to teach skills, and (4) for keeping records. (SKC)

Shows the advantages of using word processors in freshman composition classes that use the instructional technique of peer evaluation. Points out that the benefits are practical for both evaluators and composers, and suggests how to implement a computerized peer evaluation system. (SKC)

Traces the origins and development of writing centers. States that a reasonably solid history can be seen beginning in the early 1970s and earlier. Provides a definition of the features found in writing labs. Describes a program founded in World War II designed by the Armed Forces to teach officers two years of English in two semesters. (PA)

States that, at first glance, it is difficult to find two writing programs that seem to work better together than Writing across the Curriculum (WAC) and writing centers. Proposes, however, that the nature of the relationship between these two programs be reconsidered because their underlying epistemologies and textual features remain strikingly…

States that, in most writing centers, graduate teaching assistants and undergraduate peer tutors conduct student-centered, one-on-one tutoring sessions. Raises concerns over the orthodoxy of this system in light of personal experiences with WAC workshops. Concludes that alternative tutoring practices are provocative for the writing center, and the…

States that one liberating feature of modern writing centers is the way they oblige individuals to (re)examine conventional definitions. Argues that writing centers contribute to developments in writing pedagogy. Describes the WCCD (Writing Center Conference Diagnostic) test and how it is used in writing centers. Discusses success and failure in…