Keywords

writing, university, tutoring

Abstract

Some questions about writing center theory and praxis never seem to change: how do we prepare for our clientele? How do we engage them? What questions should we ask? When should we direct them? And when should we encourage them to direct us? The list goes on. Fortunately, we consider it a virtue that we continue interrogating the same issues. As students of rhetoric, we realize that the answers to these questions often depend on the contexts in which they are asked. Thus, we give ourselves over to principles of adaptability. Instead of establishing rigid, universal rules that do not change regardless of student temperaments, professor expectations, language distinctions, writer proficiency levels, cultural variations, and other random variables, we allow ourselves the freedom to make occasional adjustments according to comparatively unpredictable discursive situations. Accordingly, writing center scholarship in the last few years has begun to acknowledge the remarkably sophisticated nature of the tutor’s “role.” Terese Thonus, for example, argues that effective writing center tutoring can be realized only through a complex “triangulated” view of the institutional variables involved, and that such a view uncovers the oversimplifications with which we have so far approached writing center identities (Thonus).

Original Publication Citation

"Crosby, Ben. “The Benefits of a For-Credit Course for New Writing Center Staff.” Lead article. The Writing Lab Newsletter 30.9 (2006): 1-5"