Manuscript & Big Question Submissions

Big Questions

The following big questions have been submitted to WLN. Return to the submission page.

• Justin Cook (High Point University): What, in your opinion, is the best part about having a physical location for the writing center? For context, my writing consultants have appointments in common areas around campus. We do not have a singular location for the writing center to work from. I have never worked in a center that operates this way, so I am interested to know what others think is the biggest draw for having a singular location. (2022-03-22)

• Elizabeth Whitehouse (United Arab Emirates University ): When are asynchronous sessions better than synchronous? What factors influence impact of asynchronous support? (2021-11-14)

• Jenn Fishman (Marquette U): On my campus and others, workloads are going up and compensation of various kinds, including stipends and course releases for admin work, are going down or they are going away entirely. What can we reasonably reduce or cut from our administrative agendas and activity lists without harming the overall integrity and effectiveness of our writing centers? How might strategies differ when centers are staffed (primarily) by undergrad peer tutors? grad student tutors? faculty or staff? When centers are primarily onsite or online? When centers offer primarily synchronous or asynchronous tutoring? (2021-11-11)

• Lucie Moussu (Royal Military College (Kingston, ON)): How can I not feel horribly guilty when I can't dutifully follow everything I've learned about writing centre theory and practice, because I'm working in a military institution where everything is so different? Also, why are military institutions so far behind in the way they teach/use writing (which is one of the reasons why having a writing centre in those institutions is so difficult/weird)? That needs to be researched! (2021-11-10)

• Julia Lane (Simon Fraser University ): How to effectively take up antiracist practices in the writing centre in ways that challenge the hegemony and racism of Standard Academic English but that don't further disempower students. How to get out of the deficit framework that has historically shaped the need and function of writing centres. (2021-11-10)

• Lisa Nazarenko (University of Applied Sciences Technikum Wien): I’m not sure that this is a BIG question, but how can you convince technical directors of the need for a writing center? I work at a technical university (various engineering fields) in Austria, and there have been reductions in courses and course hours in the past few years in the English department. The general belief is that now “everyone knows English,” so it’s not necessary to devote so much time (and money!) to English studies. The English instructors, however, realize that the students’ writing skills are not adequate for the future demands of their profession. In fact, many of the technical instructors could use more guidance on their writing skills in English, but that’s a touchy area. With that kind of attitude, how can we persuade the powers-that-be that a writing center would be useful? I’m not thinking of arguments about how English writing skills are needed for professional articles, conference papers, etc., but rather any studies that have been done, statistics that can be used, to convince the technical departments that academic and technical writing is more than just knowing correct grammar and vocabulary? And something to convince them that the students’ skills are not yet adequate for such writing? (2021-11-04)

• Clint Gardner (Salt Lake Community College): My BIG QUESTION is about Writing Center statistics and demographics. I won't to know (as exactly as possible) how many Writing Centers there are in the world and what are their institutional situation. (2021-11-04)

• Joe Essid (University of Richmond): As AI-based writing assistants such as Grammarly improve, how will writing centers adapt to them? Adopt them? In the worst cases, be replaced by them? (2021-11-04)

• Fatima Zohra BELKHIR-BENMOSTEFA (University of Tlemcen): What steps shall I take on to establish a writing centre which is the first in Algeria ? (2021-11-04)

• Bill Macauley (UniversityofNevadaReno): How do writing centaurs balance their traditional roles as reflective respondents for individual writers with adapting practices to greater DEI efforts? (2021-11-03)

• Katie Hupp (MetropolitanCommunityCollege): If your institution participated in the Focused Guided Pathways College Experience, how did the changes implemented impact your writing center? (2021-11-03)

• Wendy Weisenberg (California State University, Northridge): What are the pros and cons (if any) to hiring non-native speakers as consultants for non-native English speaking students taking English classes? (2021-11-03)