Mission Statement
The Writing Center was established to promote excellence in writing and long-term academic success for students at West Virginia University. Our goal is to help students become better writers and to increase confidence in their writing abilities. To that end, we promote a cooperative and interactive learning environment where each writer’s individual needs are met.
Tutors meet one-on-one with writers from all levels of experience, ability, and expertise. They are active audience members who provide constructive and encouraging feedback. Tutors do not proofread or edit papers for students. Instead they teach strategies so that students can learn to edit and proofread their own work.
The Writing Center recognizes that successful writing takes time and practice. We are here to help writers acquire essential knowledge to improve their writing abilities, develop an awareness of genre conventions, and develop their ideas.
The WC is a collaborative learning environment.
To collaborate means to meaningfully participate in a joint intellectual effort. At its best, collaborative learning aids in problem finding and solving, in learning abstract ideas, in gaining critical thinking skills, and in gaining a deeper understanding of others. In the ideal tutoring situation, both the tutor and the writer benefit from their act of collaboration.
The WC meets writers where they are.
The writing center is a student-centered environment. The feedback that we offer focuses on each writer’s individual needs and abilities. One main goal is to help writers locate strategies that aid them in critical writing and reading.
The WC promotes student ownership and responsibility.
Writing center tutors are readers responding to texts. We are probably one of many readers the text will have. We impress upon the student that we offer feedback, but they ultimately need to take responsibility for their writing choices (content and editing). They have to sort through all of the feedback they get from instructors, friends, roommates, family members, etc and decide what will work best for their texts.
We are also not editors or proofreaders. We teach students editing and proofreading strategies so that can apply what they learn to their writing.
