Shares observations about the philosophy and services secondary level writing centers can provide. Suggests secondary writing centers provide miniclinics, study skills information, opportunities for instructors to work with the center staff, and effective writing to learn activities. Suggests that writing center personnel become involved in…

Discusses why writing centers are the best "home" for writing across the curriculum. Suggests that writing centers (1) provide a definable space for expertise, with identifiable goals and services; (2) encourage the dialogue between diverse rhetorical communities; and (3) offer a rhetorically neutral ground on which to carry out the program. (RS)

Outlines the benefits of writing center-writing across the curriculum programs in high schools. Notes the value of inservice workshops and collaboration. (SR)

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…

Considers the importance of having writing center tutors with specific knowledge of disciplines. Examines videotapes of tutors with students in specialized fields such as engineering and business. Concludes that the "ignorant" or generalist tutor sometimes has limitations as a writing tutor. (HB)

Considers the "marginality" of the situation of writing centers and their directors. Explores a possible reinvention for writing centers' history and mentality, with the help of concepts from anthropology. Finds that the writing center is not a space, a pedagogy, or an academic department; it crosses all disciplines. Surveys cultural…

Takes a "critical" look at the relationship between Writing across the Curriculum and the Writing Center at Dickinson College, which is typical of many institutions. Explains how Writing across the Curriculum principles have prompted the Writing Center to rethink its role and to examine its tutoring practices. (TB)

Argues that it is possible and desirable for writing tutors, acting out their role in classroom tutoring programs rather than in writing center programs, to play the dual role of teacher and tutor. Maintains that classroom tutoring projects have the potential to help educators practice the art of translating different philosophies, practices, and…

Details the facts of power for administrators or writing programs. Discusses positions of power within writing programs; enemies of writing programs; wielding power in relation to the writing staff, the English department, and the administration; and how to become of aware of the power relationships and to use this power for the good of the…

What happens in a writing center is always directly linked to a particular curriculum. If the "old regime" featured a 2-course writing requirement, the writing center director generally teaches in the English department and the center works closely to support composition and technical writing and advanced composition sections. Student writers may…

This paper explains why a comprehensive Writing across the Curriculum (WAC) program at the author/educator's university, the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia (USP), would encounter strong opposition. The paper first points out that the author, as the director of the University's Writing Center, has tried for 7 years to make a WAC program…

The potential for writing across the curriculum programs to oppress or to liberate students lies in the dualistic approach to such programs: (1) highlighting humanism, where writing is seen as enhancing the learning process in all academic disciplines, and (2) teaching the conventions of different communities. Few scholars would object to the…

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…

Traditionally, teachers of writing have considered it their challenge to prepare students for the workplace. But in growing numbers, students are entering classrooms from the workplace. New trends in the way Americans define themselves as workers and life-long learners call for a redefinition of the role of writing in the academic world. Some…