Considers how the College Essay Program, a long-standing tradition in the North Salem Central School District, helps students prepare a written personal statement essay for needs such as college admission applications. Concludes that college essays are engaging personal statements, difficult to write down, that bring a human dimension to the…

Writing centers and their faculty are often considered to be "Others" because they have both power and no power--they have the ability to make a difference in students' writing abilities, but they are often excluded because they are seen as a "fixit," a clinic, a lab, an ancillary. Writing center faculty need to take more power so that they can…

The emotional transitions basic writers have to make when they enter the academic setting can be overwhelming. Basic writers tend to have a host of problems and obstacles to overcome, not the least of which are their own anxieties. One way to alleviate some of the anxieties and insecurities is through a studio or workshop course staffed with…

This paper profiles the Academic Writing Center at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, which, although influenced by writing centers in American universities, is less dependent on tutorials. The university writing center has only three academicians for 13,000 students, and most of their time is spent teaching how-to-do-it workshops and classes…

Presents an educational case study in which an English-as-a-Second-Language student brings a draft of his argument essay for freshman composition to a tutor in a university writing center. Presents a response that examines several ways in which the study has challenged an educator to think more deeply about beliefs. (SG)

One professor's motives in organizing writing workshops with panels of faculty members talking in their fields about writing issues were both political and philosophical. As director of the writing center at the Claremont Graduate School, in 1993 she feared that with latest round of budget cuts the writing center was in danger of elimination.…

This document offers brief lesson plans for four courses: (1) an 8-hour refresher course for employees who write memos, short reports, and letters; (2) an 8-hour refresher course on creating a short document; (3) a 16-hour course on technical manual writing; and (4) an 8-hour course on technical manual writing. The courses were part of a workplace…

The location of a university writing center is not as important as whether the faculty responsible for the center have a clear picture of how they would like the center to be viewed by the students. A campus writing center should be the hub of all academic writing across the campus. For one instructor, the first lab he developed at a small college…

This document, developed by Mercer County Community College (New Jersey) and its partners, offers lists of topics covered in each day of a 24-day course designed to teach General Motors employees the following skills: document information; write clear directions and instructions; outline and organize thoughts and ideas; write memos and business…

Argues that tutoring programs are essential adjuncts to community college writing programs. Suggests ways that writing labs might combat the economic problems they face by combining personal tutoring with computers, limiting the skills the lab proposes to handle, and using professional staff to teach workshops. Stresses the importance of tutor…

Based on a series of seven summer workshops on creative writing and pedagogy, this book offers an "inside-out" approach to teaching and writing, an approach that teachers can use for personal growth and self-enrichment as well as for application and inspiration in their public school classrooms. Essays in the book are: (1) "'The Writing's for Us':…

This packet contains 10 selected papers on writing centers in both secondary and post-secondary settings: "Keynote Address: Collaboration, Control, and the Idea of a Writing Center" (Andrea A. Lunsford); "Diversifying for Disabilities: Making Writing a Mode of Encouragement" (Laurie Bertamus); "When Cultures Collide: The…

This packet contains selected papers from a conference on writing centers: "Inner-City Writing Centers in St. Louis Public Schools" (Carmen Charleston); "Non-traditional Students in the Writing Lab" (Marilyn Cozad); "Cooperation between the Writing Center and Student Support Services" (Coralyn Dahl and Rita Worrall);…

Monroe County Community College (MCCC), in Monroe, Michigan, developed a "Writing Across the Curriculum" program in response to perceived deficiencies in the writing and critical thinking skills of its students. Major features of the program include a Writing Center located in the Learning Assistance Laboratory and Writing Fellows…

A study was conducted in spring 1991, spring 1993, and summer 1993 to determine the effect on the writing process of various types of word processing software used by developmental and second-level composition students. Analyses were conducted of developmental students (novice writers) and of composition students (above novice writers) at a Texas…