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'I Just Need Another Set of Eyes': Understanding Students' Idea of the Writing Center

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Title: 'I Just Need Another Set of Eyes': Understanding Students' Idea of the Writing Center
Language: English
Authors: Isabelle M. Lundin, Neal Lerner
Source: Writing Center Journal. 2025 43(2):93-119.
Availability: Writing Center Journal. e-mail: iwcaofficer@gmail.com; Web site: https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/wcj/
Peer Reviewed: Y
Page Count: 27
Publication Date: 2025
Document Type: Journal Articles
Reports - Research
Tests/Questionnaires
Education Level: Higher Education
Postsecondary Education
Descriptors: Writing (Composition), Laboratories, Higher Education, College Students, Student Attitudes, Writing Improvement, Tutoring, Interviews, Student Motivation, Student Experience, Educational Facilities
DOI: 10.7771/2832-9414.2091
ISSN: 0889-6143
2832-9414
Abstract: In this article, we describe writing center clients' "idea" of the writing center based on interviews with 26 writing center users and qualitative coding of interview transcripts. Participants' constructs of the writing center provide a lens to better understand how they perceive writing as an activity, the "writing culture" of the institution, the role of the writing center in their writing processes, and, ultimately, if they see writing centers in the way we would expect them to. The tensions we derived from our data are (1) between who and what tutors are and offer: discipline-specific expertise (including the disciplines of writing) versus generalist expertise, and (2) between how tutoring should occur: tutors as collaborative partners in students' writing processes versus tutors as "another set of eyes" to give relatively quick feedback. Additionally, we offer our findings in a 2 x 2 matrix, a common visualization tool to productively illuminate the nuances, tensions, perspectives, and points of view in ways that can further writing center theory and practice. Our findings suggest that writing centers might respond to these tensions by expanding their "ideas" about who they are and what they do within their institutions.
Abstractor: As Provided
Entry Date: 2025
Accession Number: EJ1489030
Database: ERIC
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  Data: In this article, we describe writing center clients' "idea" of the writing center based on interviews with 26 writing center users and qualitative coding of interview transcripts. Participants' constructs of the writing center provide a lens to better understand how they perceive writing as an activity, the "writing culture" of the institution, the role of the writing center in their writing processes, and, ultimately, if they see writing centers in the way we would expect them to. The tensions we derived from our data are (1) between who and what tutors are and offer: discipline-specific expertise (including the disciplines of writing) versus generalist expertise, and (2) between how tutoring should occur: tutors as collaborative partners in students' writing processes versus tutors as "another set of eyes" to give relatively quick feedback. Additionally, we offer our findings in a 2 x 2 matrix, a common visualization tool to productively illuminate the nuances, tensions, perspectives, and points of view in ways that can further writing center theory and practice. Our findings suggest that writing centers might respond to these tensions by expanding their "ideas" about who they are and what they do within their institutions.
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      – SubjectFull: Higher Education
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      – SubjectFull: College Students
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      – SubjectFull: Student Attitudes
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      – SubjectFull: Writing Improvement
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      – SubjectFull: Tutoring
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      – SubjectFull: Student Motivation
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