AUS Writing Center Mission Statement

Rational

The AUS Writing Center is dedicated to helping students become better writers. Writing center consultants help students become independent, confident writers through an interactive approach to writing. The writing center offers one-on-one tutoring sessions by appointment or on a drop-in basis to students throughout the university. During conferences, students and consultants work together on various aspects of writing: thesis development, organization, outlining, paragraphing, sentence-structure, wording, vocabulary and mechanics.

The tutoring sessions can help students brainstorm, organize their writing, review grammar, punctuation and mechanics in the context of their writing, or work on a draft critiqued by their instructor.

Writing consultants do not write or edit papers for students. Instead, they help students develop strategies to achieve their goals as writers.

Philosophy

The philosophy of the AUS Writing Center is to make students better learners by helping to guide them through the process of constructing knowledge, rather than presenting the knowledge to them. The one-on-one student instruction provided by the writing center changes the instructor-student dynamic and makes the student feel more at ease. The learning fostered through the writing center conferences helps to supplement the learning that occurs in the traditional classroom setting.

Policies

The policy of the AUS Writing Center is that it does not proofread or edit students' assignments; rather, it teaches students to recognize and correct their own errors with the goal of making them more confident and self-sufficient writers. Students must take an active role during writing conferences. The writing center helps students with the writing process in a shared effort that depends on their active participation to succeed.

Approaches

Writing Center Consultants will make every effort to ensure a student-centered approach. Consultants must create a collaborative atmosphere by listening to students critically, carefully and constructively. They should ask questions to encourage discovery and thinking. Some strategies for keeping the conferences student directed are: writing consultants should help students identify strengths and potential problems in student papers; consultants should allow students to locate their errors and then help them find ways to correct them; consultants can make suggestions and ask questions, but the consultant should not take over the writing process.

Maria Eleftheriou