Writing Center Faculty Resources
Better Writers, Not Just Better Writing
Although instructors whose students seek Writing Center feedback report more thoughtful, significantly revised work, the aim of the Writing Center is actually better writers, not just better writing. When a student visits the Writing Center, we use their current project to facilitate a dialogue about their writing and their writing process. This dialogue inevitably improves the work at hand, but it also helps the writer learn more about writing and feel motivated to set and achieve further writing goals, opening up successful paths forward. In this way, students who use the Writing Center can make long-term improvements in their writing abilities and habits over time and across multiple assignments.
- Use Our Syllabus Blurb
Feel free to copy the following syllabus blurb and paste it into your course syllabus:
The University Writing Center
Every writer needs a reader. Regardless of your background or experience with writing, the University Writing Center stands ready to assist you as you write and revise for any assignment or other purpose. In the Writing Center, trained peer writing tutors offer you free, one-on-one feedback on any aspect of your writing, from choosing a topic to evaluating evidence, organizing details to citing sources. Whether you excel in writing or not, consider the value of asking for feedback from one who is trained and dedicated to helping you become the best writer you can be. Walk-ins are welcome as availability allows, but to make an appointment, download the Retain Mobile app from your app store, or visit cwu.retain.io. You can also visit the Writing Center website, e-mail the Learning Commons at tutoring@cwu.edu, or call 509-963-1270 for more information.
- Track Your Students' Use of the Center
When a student of yours has had a consultation with the University Writing Center—whether in person, over Zoom, or via screencast—you will receive a message through Retain (our scheduling and record-keeping platform) listing the student’s session information, including some details about what was discussed. This provides you with knowledge of how your students are using the Writing Center, and it also gives you a way to keep track of who is using the service and how they are using it.
You can also access your unique Retain dashboard (log in to MyCWU first) and view reports of your students' use of the Writing Center and other CWU Learning Commons services.
Please note that students using Online Tutoring, which is administered by the Northwest eConsortium and does not have access to CWU's system, will themselves need to provide their professors with information about their consultations.
- Encourage Your Students to Use the Writing Center—for Credit?
We hope you will encourage your students to seek the Writing Center’s feedback on their own, since students voluntarily using the Writing Center usually gain more from their consultations than those who are required to use it. For this encouragement to work, students should ideally know that collaboration is at the heart of what we do. The Writing Center is a place for all writers, whether they excel in writing or not, to engage in a studio-style workshop. They can have a seat and write on their own for a while or grab a peer tutor and have a focused conversation about any aspect of their project, including their writing process, topic, purpose, research, or rhetorical and grammatical choices. Writers need to know they are in control, with us assisting them, not the other way around. Those who think the Center is a “fix-it” shop just for students needing remedial "help” are unfortunately underestimating what we can do for them, and they probably won’t use the service whether it's required or not.
Although we generally do not recommend requiring all students to use the Writing Center for a single assignment, we do recommend asking students, especially those in writing courses, to use the Center at least twice per term. As long as the students know what to expect in a consultation, this repeated exposure to the Writing Center can help them learn to see writing as a social act, conceptualize university audiences, value writing beyond the grade, seek peer feedback during the writing process, and illuminate research avenues and rhetorical considerations for their future projects. Many instructors offer their students points, or even extra credit, as an incentive for these consultations.
When a student of yours has had a consultation with the University Writing Center—whether in person, over Zoom, or via screencast—you will receive a message through Retain (our scheduling and record-keeping platform) listing the student’s session information, including some details about what was discussed. This provides you with knowledge of how your students are using the Writing Center, and it also gives you a way to keep track of who is using the service and how often. You can also access your unique Retain dashboard (log in to MyCWU first) and view reports of your students' use of the Writing Center and other CWU Learning Commons services. (Please note that students using Online Tutoring, which is administered by the Northwest eConsortium and does not have access to CWU's system, will themselves need to provide their professors with information about their consultations.) You can also access Retain and view reports of your students' use of the Writing Center and other CWU Learning Commons services.
- Schedule a Class Visit
If you would like to bring your class to the Writing Center, or if you would like someone from the Writing Center to visit your class and give an introduction to our services or lead a workshop, please e-mail Hannah Barta, who manages the Writing Center, at hannah.barta@cwu.edu.
- Peruse Writing Center Handouts, Minilessons, Slides, and Videos
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