Writing matters in all courses. Writing does not

merely refer to a transcription of knowledge whose merits are

reduced to correctness. Rather, writing initiates a complex

learning process by which deeper meaning-making can occur

in any discipline. Over the last 25 years, researchers have

studied the many ways writing shapes thinking. These

studies demonstrate that writing about a subject is a powerful

means of learning about that subject, especially when writing

is used to scaffold metacognitive reflection on one’s learning

processes. When writing prompts urge students to reflect on

their own learning experiences – the challenges they faced and

the various strategies they employed to overcome them – the

educative effects of writing are substantially improved.

ALL WRITING IS CONTEXTUAL. In the Writing Center we’re concerned with helping writers better understand why

different disciplines rely on different styles and genres for writing, and how these concerns shape the way one thinks, conducts research, and shares results in these ranging environments.

REVISION. It’s what writers prioritize and a practice built into all of our writing courses. Research shows that it is in the act of

revising that writers learn the most deeply what it is they really want to say and what their readers need from them in order to hear it. It’s hard work; it’s not simply editing: it’s re-visioning, rethinking, seeing again. And it really benefits from feedback from careful, critical readers. The concept exists in all fields: athletes get feedback from coaches & trainers, chefs rely on test kitchens and host tastings before putting new dishes on a menu, comedians and musicians play open mics to see how their work is received by an audience, and writers and academics rely on peer review – just look at the acknowledgements section of any well-considered text to appreciate the

long list of readers who gave careful feedback on prior drafts of that text: Good Writers Need Good Readers .

H O U R S & L O C A T I O N S

Fal l 2014 Stats

We offer free and friendly support for writers at any level with any type of project. Based on the underlying notion that all writers, regardless of experience, benefit from thoughtful feedback, our goal is to facilitate learning. In addition to serving as responsive readers for works-in-progress, we are here to help writers consider various strategies for developing, testing, and communicating their ideas; reflecting on their purpose and audience; demystifying the writing process; and practicing with tools for invention, drafting, research, revision, and the editing of their own work. We aim to challenge students to become stronger writers in order to foster broader success in writing tasks across the disciplines both in and outside of academia.

100+ HOURS WEEKLY

CLASS VISITS, WORKSHOPS & POLICIES

WHAT WE DO

W R I T I N G C E N T E R FA Q

WHO WE

SERVE

The Writing Center is for all writers; students, staff, and faculty alike. We support a rhetorical approach to writing founded on considerations of purpose, audience, and genre – this means we’re flexible and can work with writing projects for any class as well as projects in support of scholarships, jobs, and college entrance. Specifically for faculty and staff, we offer feedback on written works and help with classroom communications, designing writing assignments, and facilitating productive peer review.

WHO WE ARE

The Writing Center is staffed by FLCC instructors and professional mentors with expertise in college-level academic and creative writing, who can mentor writers in any content area. Why mentors instead of tutors? When we think of tutoring, we think of supplemental instruction, an additional opportunity for students to learn concepts they couldn’t sufficiently grasp from classes or labs. But learning to write is different than learning other academic subjects because it culminates in thinking processes that entail numerous choices, strategies, and practices, depending on the context. Meeting with a mentor is a different experience than “being tutored” as our goal is not to reinforce classroom content knowledge, but to nurture writers’ progress in becoming fluent with their processes in the various genres, practices, and terminologies they encounter in their coursework across the curriculum.

5 LOCATIONS

flcc. mywconline.

com

Main Campus Write Place: A-219 adjacent to the entrance of the Library Honors House Writing Studio: HH 104 on the 1st floor

Campus Centers: Academic Support @ Geneva, Victor, & Wayne campuses Online: flcc.mywconline.com

Scheduling is simple – Writers can drop in or use their favorite electronic device to

register, log in, and choose a time that is most convenient: flcc.mywconline.com

To make the most of our time together, writers should bring everything related to the project at hand

(the syllabus, the assignment, related notes and drafts, pertinent texts), any suggestions an instructor or reader

has made on their work, and realistic expectations of what can be accomplished in the time chosen

to work with a mentor. The more writers know about the kinds of help and advice

they’re looking for, the more we can accomplish in a session.

WHAT TO

BRING

NO RED PEN

We are not an editing or proofreading service and projects will not be scrubbed of all errors after a visit to the Writing Center . Our goal is to help writers develop skills and strategies to make their writing more successful, not just to improve a specific text, so we do not edit, “fix,” “correct,” or proofread papers line by line. Instead, we collaborate with students on editing and proofreading strategies within the context of their own writing. Think of it this way. Would a mathematics professor send a student to a support center to have the tutor find and fix the student’s calculation errors? No. That professor would expect the support center to help the student to understand the process by which correct answers are derived and careless errors avoided. The same is true in a writing center.

We acknowledge that writing is an ongoing learning process that develops throughout a person’s life and that errors are a part of this process. Most of our conversations in the Writing Center address more global issues such as clarifying the writer's ideas, discussing organizational strategies, and striving toward credible support for claims. However, when grammatical competence interferes with a student’s ability to do college-level work, we use the student’s own drafts as tools to identify patterns of error and to create a manageable focus for learning. Unlike having papers proofread, writers are actively involved in the learning process. Wherever writers are in their process, we work with them to take steps—no matter how incremental—to becoming more and more successful with their work.

Can Students Be Required to Use the Writing Center?

We hope that every instructor at FLCC will encourage students to visit the Writing Center, but a Writing Center visit for a specific paper/due date cannot be required. No matter how well-intentioned, experience teaches us that the Writing Center works best when students choose to visit us. We can accommodate only so many clients at any given time due to our scheduling and staffing limitations, and requiring our services can take time away from students who are motivated by a genuine desire for feedback on their work. We do make two exceptions: instructors may gently incentivize writing center visits or require students to visit the Writing Center at some point of their choosing during the semester; also instructors may require students to work with us to address concerns of plagiarism. In these cases, we follow sessions up with a report to instructors. All general visits to the Writing Center are otherwise confidential unless students give us permission to notify their instructors. Do We Offer

Workshops & Class Visits?

We can provide a classroom visit to inform students about the role and services of the Writing Center, or we can help facilitate in-class writing workshops and productive peer review. If you would like to schedule such a visit, please email Nani Nehring Bliss, Interim Director.

As you assign written work, let students know about our services, refer them to our website, and guide them to our online scheduler – flcc.mywconline.com Request bookmarks to distribute to your students, or take a class walk over to us – we’ll be happy to introduce ourselves and show you around. As always, we appreciate your support of our mission and services, and would be happy to speak further with you or your classes about what we do.

W R I T I N G P O R T R A I T S

Last semester, 1151 students pursuing degrees in 54 distinct areas of study worked with us on projects for over 100 unique courses across the curriculum.

HOURS & LOCATIONS

SPRING 2 0 1 5

1151 VISITS

54 DEGREES

100+ COURSES

37%

19%

17%

9%

8%

4% 2% 2%

1% 1%

Writing Center in the Curriculum

Writing & Reading

Social Sciences

Unspecified Projects

Humanities

Natural Sciences

Nursing & Health

Business

Application Materials

Visual & Perfoming Arts

Math & Computer Science

Overall, over 1/3 of students sought feedback for Composition projects and just under 2/3 sought feedback on writing for coursework across all the other disciplines, together representing written work for every degree program FLCC offers .

2. Te x t s c o m e

in many s a P e S

&SIZES. 68% 3%

4%

8%

9%

5%

3% Types of Writing Projects

Academic Paper

Application Materials

Creative Writing Project

Informal Writing Assignment

Lab Report/Scientific Paper

Portfolio

Oral Presentation

Writing projects have a variety of purposes and contexts across the disciplines for which a range of strategies for thinking, reading, and writing are required. But regardless of whether students are attempting to write to inform, analyze, reflect, persuade, entertain,

explain, review, advise, or inspire, our goal is the same: to support writers’ progress toward producing coherent texts crafted to achieve intended ends for their intended audiences.

Whether that end is an annotated text for study purposes, a source-based essay to inform a specific audience, a poem to submit to a literary journal, a lab report to demonstrate understanding of scientific concepts, a journal entry to reflect on one’s learning, an essay

for a competitive scholarship, or an oral presentation to persuade an audience to take action, we help students engage with their choices as writers, readers, and thinkers as they craft toward their objectives.

32%

14%

13%

12%

12%

10%

6%

1%

Revision

Drafting

Understanding theAssignment

Formatting/Documentation

Prewriting/Invention

Editing

Research/Working withSources

Plagiarism Concerns

Writers’ Concerns 3. There’s no such thing as a UNIVERSAL or CORRECT

writing process.

4. W r i t i n g

facilitates both

creating & sharing

k n o w l e d g e .

We encourage metacognitive practice in our work with students by providing them opportunities to reflect on their learning process. We also foster the contextualizing of writing tasks across the curriculum in terms of the foundational practices, strategies, and skills learned in First Year Composition, helping students to scaffold the portability and development of these essential abilities into their course-work across the disciplines.

f l c c . m y w c o n l i n e . c o m

flcc.edu/offices/writingcenter

THANK YOU

FOR YOUR CONTINUED

SUPPORT OF OUR WORK. PLEASE

CONTACT NANI NEHRING BLISS, INTERIM DIRECTOR,

WITH FURTHER INQUIRIES or for a COPY OF OUR FALL 2014 REPORT.

N a n i N e h r i n g B l i s s , I n t e r i m - D i r e c t o r o f t h e W r i t i n g C e n t e r O f f i c e : A - 2 1 9 P h o n e : 5 8 5 . 7 8 5 . 1 6 0 2

Ways to Introduce Our Services