* the goals of the writing center,

° the general policies of the center,

° ways to meet student needs,

* ways to encourage colleagues to make student
referrals, and

e schedules—making sure to “spread out” or
balance faculty tutoring as much as possible.

These beginning orientation sessions should include
ideas about typical writing assignments, methods for
working with developmental as well as advanced
writers, ways to help students develop self-confidence
as writers, tactics for dealing with students who want
editors, and diplomatic and sensitive ways to work
with students who may have acquired assistance in the
writing center, but who, nonetheless, did not receive
the A’s they wanted. The sharing sessions at the end of
each semester should simply put into focus the accom-
plishments and/or problems of the center in relation-
ship to the goals presented at the beginning of the
semester. This can be a fine justification for an open-
house sharing with faculty tutors, as well as with fac-
ulty members not yet involved with the writing center.

Fifth, directors of writing centers should have

available, contingent on budget, at least some of the
following resources for student use:

¢ handouts on writing in the Humanities, the Social
Sciences, the Natural Sciences, the Health Sci-
ences;

* dictionaries (unabridged, etymology, foreign
language [Latin, French, German, Spanish],
literary terms, social science terms, medical
terminology);

e style manuals—MLA, APA, the University of
Chicago Manual of Style, CBE Style Manual (Coun-
cil of Biology Editors), Handbook for Authors
(American Chemical Society), A Manual for
Authors of Mathematical Papers (American Math-
ematical Society), and Style Manual for Guidance in
the Preparation of Journals Published by the American
Institute of Physics (for health sciences);

* sample assignments and papers from various
disciplines.

For writing centers with computers, there are useful
software packages available: e.g., word processing
programs and tutorials that focus on the process of
writing; on causal relationships; and on logic, reason-
ing, analysis, and synthesis of ideas. The purpose in
providing these resources for students is to make
available to them a center as conducive to writing as
possible. Students writing analyses of a play should
have access to a dictionary of literary terms; students
writing sociology reports should have access to a

dictionary that provides definitions of social science
terms; and students writing nursing care plans should
have access to a dictionary of medical terminology.

Finally, directors of writing centers should advertise
to students the goals of the center, the resources
available, the types of assistance available (for
example, help with writing, editing, word processing,
etc.), the names of the tutors and faculty, and the hours
for the center and for “specialized” writing help.
Above all, they need to let students know that the
center is an interdisciplinary setting conducive to
learning about writing and that students from all levels
of all disciplines are welcome. Directors also need to
inform faculty members of the same—via memos, in-
house publications, or division or departmental
mectings—and to encourage them to refer (bring) their
students to the center. A community college writing
center should be, and can be, a successful interdiscipli-
nary writing center for all students.

Pam Besser, Coordinator, Writing Center
For further information, contact the author at Jefferson

Community College, Downtown Campus, 109 E.
Broadway, Louisville, KY 40202.

 

Suanne D. Roueche, Editor
sain rEERAaipennSRIaSELcaeiasea

September 13, 1991, Vol. XIIl, No. 19
©the University of Texas at Austin, 1991
Further duplication is permitted by MEMBER
institutions for their own personnel.

INNOVATION ABSTRACTS is a publication of the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD),
Department of Educational Administration, College of Education, EDB 348, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas
78712, (512) 471-7545. Funding in part by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation and the Sid W. Richardson Foundation. Issued weekly
when classes are in session during fall and spring terms. ISSN 0199-106X.

 

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