Washington University

The Writing Center at Washington University in St.Louis encompasses a number of academic support programs for students in undergraduate and graduate studies at the University. First and foremost, the Center provides support for student writers through drop-ins, appointments, and a variety of workshops. Also under the wing of the Writing Center is the Speaking Studio, a version of University of Richmond’s speech center.WashU has about 7,000 undergraduates and about 7,000 graduates. Their larger number of graduate students means they have more programs catered to higher levels of education.

The Writing Center staff consists of several tiers: Director Dr. Hakan Robert Patterson oversees much of the writing program while Associate Director Steve Pijut is charged with the Speaking Studio. The Center also has a director of special programs, six senior tutors (faculty-level consultants), four graduate fellows, and 24 undergraduate peer tutors.

The Writing Center at WashU is located in the Olin library, which is the school’s main library on campus. A picture of the center’s entrance, courtesy of Lindsay Ragsdale ‘21, appears here. From what I can tell, the Center is its own department, perhaps under the provost’s office, or maybe the Dean.

Also in the library is the Whispers Cafe, which was recently renovated to include more student seating, power outlets, and a wider range of food and beverage offerings.

During the Fall and Spring, the Writing Center is open Sunday-Thursday from 11am to 9pm, and Friday-Saturday from 11am to 5pm. During the summer, the Center opens Monday-Thursday from 2-7pm, and Friday from 2-5pm.

Staff and Training

The senior tutors seem to be full-time faculty members hired solely to help student writing. I could not find information on their hiring or training processes.

Graduate Fellows are part of the Graduate Writing Fellowship program for doctoral students at or near the dissertation stage. I cannot tell if Graduate Fellows works solely supporting undergraduates or if they also provide help for fellow graduate students. Applicants must submit a cover letter, CV, and a writing sample of no more than 10 pages. The fellowship involves about six hours of week, designed to provide job experience and dissertation support. According to the website, fellows “receive training and experience in the pedagogy of one-on-one writing instruction, learn about effective writing workshop design and execution, and have the chance to design and deliver their own workshops. They will also learn how to translate their Writing Center training and experience into various classroom settings and situations.” Fellows receive a stipend of $1750 per semester.

In order to apply to the undergraduate peer tutor group, students must have a minimum GPA of 3.0, and hold sophomore standing by the time they begin training. Students submit two writing samples, two references without full recommendation letters, and two essays answering “Why do you want to be a peer tutor?” and “What relevant experience do you have?” After submitting their application, if selected for an interview, students are sent a sample student paper to write commentary on in preparation for the interview. If chosen for the program, students then register for a training seminar in the fall. The seminar is a semester-long three-credit (three hours/week) course with additional hours spent interning at the Writing Center. Online, the description of the course reads: “ The seminar covers the theory and practice of one-on-one peer tutoring, asks students to reflect upon their own writing process and their development (to date) as writers, exposes students to various genres of writing and situations they may encounter as peer tutors, and reviews a number of useful tutoring and writing strategies.”

Online Resources

Unlike the University of Richmond, the Writing Center at WashU doesn’t seem to have any online writing resources. From what I can tell, there is no comparable version of Writer’s Web from the University of Richmond. In fact, their website emphasizes that “we believe that engaging in a dialogue with a real person helps everyone figure out and articulate their ideas more clearly.”

First Year Programs

WashU provides a number of first year programs for students. The Ampersand, First Year Seminars, and Beyond Boundaries programs are all either year or semester-long courses that encourage interdisciplinary learning and innovation, but from what I can tell they do not include a mandatory writing element.

According to Ragsdale, all first years are required to take College Writing 1 in their first or second semester at the university. The only students exempt are engineers who have passed a writing diagnostic test at the beginning of the year. Ragsdale says these classes are usually capped at 12 students and are heavily based in discussion and peer editing. Each professor has the freedom to choose what they would like to focus on, but it is generally a lot of nonfiction.

Ragsdale also says there are other writing elective options that are newer and still considered trial programs. Two of these classes are titled “What is Justice” and “Writing Identity.” These courses meet twice a week for breakdown discussion with 12 students and once a week for a lecture with everyone in the class, about 60 students.

Resources Offered

According to Ragsdale, the vast majority of speech appointments are conducted by the Associate Director himself, and tutors are very much dedicated to the writing component of the Center.

In addition to its open hours, the Writing Center offers tutors by appointment, capped at 50 minutes. During busy times of year, the Center recommends you schedule at least a week in advance, and they have a 24-hour cancellation policy. If all the appointments are full, students are encouraged to add themselves to a waitlist. If a student is out of town, tutors will conduct appointments over Skype.

Beyond these services, the Writing Center also advertises the following workshops:

■ Fall/Spring Write-In

● “Final paper or project coming up? Come work on it during the Spring Write-In! Sponsored by The Writing Center and Washington University Libraries, the Write-In will take place on Wednesday, May 2 from 1:00pm to 5:00pm on the first floor of Olin Library. Writing Center staff and research librarians will be on hand to answer questions, help with the writing process, and provide research assistance. Refreshments will be served, and all writers welcome!”

■ Book talks/Book signings

■ Pre-Health personal statement workshop

■ Workshops available upon request by professors, student groups, offices, and departments:

● Writing and Revising Essays

● The Basics of Excellent Public Speaking

● Writing about Literature: How to Write a Critical Literary Analysis

● Using PowerPoint as an Effective Public Speaking Tool

● Writing a Research Paper I: Conducting Research (in conjunction with Olin Library)

● Writing a Research Paper II: Drafting the Paper

● Writing Essay Exams

● Improving Style: Writing for Clarity and Grace

● Writing a Resume (in conjunction with Career Center)

● Writing a Personal Statement

Concluding Questions

• Does WashU have a separate academic skills center? If so, how developed is it in comparison to their Writing Center?
• It seems like the Speaking Studio is way less of a big deal than the Writing Center. How do students feel about this? Is there less of a need for speaking support?
• How often do workshops get requested? Who teaches the workshops?
• How are senior tutors hired and trained?
• What is the Writing 1 curriculum? How similar would it be to the University of Richmond’s FYS program?
• Are there hidden online resources that I can’t find? If not, what’s the University’s rationale for not providing them?
• Are there any ESL programs? I couldn’t find any resources or workshops related to English language learners. Is there any discussion going on about this?

Links by list:

• Writing Center main website: https://writingcenter.wustl.edu
• Speaking Studio subwebsite: https://writingcenter.wustl.edu/public-speaking/
• Staff list: https://writingcenter.wustl.edu/about/
• Olin Library website: https://library.wustl.edu/units/olinlibrary/
• Whisper Cafe @ Dining Services: https://diningservices.wustl.edu/items/whispers-cafe/
• Graduate Writing Fellowship page: https://writingcenter.wustl.edu/writing/writing-and-research-graduate-fellowships/
• Undergraduate Peer Tutor page: https://writingcenter.wustl.edu/writing/become-tutor/
• Writing Center Description page: https://writingcenter.wustl.edu/writing/
• First Year Programs page: https://artsci.wustl.edu/fyp
• Schedule an Appointment page: https://writingcenter.wustl.edu/writing/schedule-an-appointment/
• Workshops page: https://writingcenter.wustl.edu/workshops/