Not a department in the traditional sense, Writing Studies is a pedagogical movement that promotes writing as a means of learning across all content areas. Located in the MBS Center for Academic Writing, the program promotes writing-across-the-curriculum (WAC) efforts based on the knowledge that, when given frequent opportunities to write analytically, students think more critically and creatively, engage more deeply in their learning, and transfer what they have learned from course to course, context to context more efficiently. Writing Studies includes a variety of student-centered tutorials and workshops as well as an upper-level course designed to train peer tutors to work in the Center for Academic Writing.
Prerequisites: Permission of Instructor
Open to students in the following grades: 11
Full Year Course
This year-long honors course combines classroom work and fieldwork to prepare students for a tutoring role in the Center for Academic Writing (CAW). Students will discover that consulting in the CAW involves much more than "looking over" a paper. Writing center consulting has a rich theoretical base that draws on knowledge from the fields of composition studies, education, and psychology, and requires skills in critical reading, active listening, inquiry, flexibility, and empathy. During the fall semester, students will hone their writing and reading skills and explore the dynamics of tutoring, enabling them to become facilitators for their peers. During the spring semester, students will not meet as a class, but will complete practicum work on an individual basis in the Center for Academic Writing. Upon successful completion of the course, students will be invited to continue to serve as volunteer writing tutors during their senior year.
Please note that this course does not fulfill English core requirements.