Blog 6: Writing Center Philosophy Installment 2

Writing is a form of communication. We all want others to understand us, our perspective, our insights, and writing is a medium we often use to foster this understanding. However, sometimes we all need help generating or expressing our ideas. This is where the writing center can help. The writing center is a resource for all writers (undergrads and grad students from all disciplines, university staff, and even professors) who wish to communicate as best as they can.

Since writing is primarily used as a tool for communication, it usually implies the existence of an audience. For many writers, this audience is an imagined "other" that is actually just a projection of the writer. At the writing center, we provide a "real life" audience as opposed to the imagined one many writers speak to when writing. We believe that writers improve when they can interact with this audience, when they are able to share their work with a real other who offers insightful feedback.

The coaches at the writing center are highly trained and work hard to help during all stages of the writing process. When writers enter our writing center, they find someone who is skilled enough to assess their needs, even when they themselves have trouble articulating them. The coach at the writing center can help writers by talking with them about their goals/needs, by reading their written work, and by understanding the requirements of the assignment. Based on their understanding of a writer's goals and learning styles, our coaches can help a writer to implement various strategies. Coaches know strategies that can help writers think of an idea for an essay, focus on a perspective, develop and organize ideas, discover a voice that works, clarify certain elements, and heighten eloquence and beauty.

At this writing center, we are realist. We understand that many writers' main concern is to earn particular grades on their written pieces. We respect that goal, as it is the reason why many come into the writing center. We feel that our approach can help. However, we hope that writers will appreciate the interaction with the "real life audience" we provide and will use this resource whenever they feel the need. However, even if a writer visits only once, we hope that the experience at the writing center will carry over, that writers will use the strategies learned to improve their writing in the future.

Our aim at the writing center is to help writers to gain more confidence, to to learn and practice various modes of thinking, to grow as writers.