Why Visit Your Campus Writing Center?

Ben Rafoth

Volume 1

Chapter Description

In this chapter, a writing center director and author of books and articles about learning to write invites tutors to tell why writing centers help students become better writers. They explain how the power of conversation in collaborative learning environments helps to expand a writer’s ideas, and we see how tutors ask questions and help to shape ideas. As one said, “So often we think we’ve pushed our minds to the limit and can’t see a way to make a thesis any deeper or more complex…until someone asks a question about it.” The tutors included in this chapter also discuss ways in which they help writers to build confidence and to be aware of their audience. Writing center tutors help students to revise and edit their papers, too, but the main benefit of having a tutor read your paper is in seeing how someone (other than you) responds to the flow, organization, style, and details of what you have written.

Alternate Downloads: 

You may also download this chapter from Parlor Press or WAC Clearinghouse.

Writing Spaces is published in partnership with Parlor Press and WAC Clearinghouse.