Writing Support for Students

At Dickinson College, writing is considered a central component in a liberal-arts education. Dickinson faculty members value writing because it helps students solidify their learning, deepen their critical thinking skills and practice the language and conventions of their disciplines. At every level and in every major, students receive countless opportunities to write. The Writing Program administers First-Year Seminars and WID (writing-in-the-discipline) courses, provides specialized classes for multilingual and international writers and offers various courses in writing studies (WRPG). The Writing Program also houses the Writing Center which offers 45-minute writing consultations for students at any stage of the writing process. Read on for more information about the resources and opportunties available to you through the Writing Program.

Norman M. Eberly Multilingual Writing Center

The MWC offers both English and World Language writing consultations delivered face-to-face or via Zoom in 45-minute meetings. Students can bring writing at any stage, from the prompt of an assignment, a rough outine, a draft with faculty feedback, or anything in between. English peer writing tutors work with monolingual and multilingual speakers of English, and World Language writing tutors work with writers of Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. Our mission is to support writers from all disciplines and of all levels and abilities as they develop their writing processes and increase their repertoire of writing skills. English writing tutors take a semester long course in anti-racist writing pedgaogy, while World Language tutors receive accelerated training throughout the fall semester. All writing tutors in the MWC are trained to:

• collaborate with writers and engage them in conversation about their writing at any point in the writing process;
• offer relevant feedback and strategic techniques that would enable writers to improve their writing and/or their writing processes;
• take into account the needs of diverse writers and assist them with writing for diverse audiences;
• increase student engagement in writing tasks.

We are dedicated to creating a diverse and inclusive collaborative space where

• writers’ and tutors’ identities are valued;
• writers’ and tutors’ cultural and linguistic practices are taken into account;
• writers’ and tutors’ ideas are encouraged to be mutually expressed, heard, engaged with, and respectfully challenged.

As a result of this mission and these core values, writers will learn to:

• build a functional writing process tailored to the writing task;
• recognize areas for improvement in their drafts;
• implement the skills, techniques, and dispositions needed to move the writing process forward;
• be proud of their writing and confident in themselves as writers.    

Students can book an appointment with a writing tutor on WCONLINE. A list of of English writing tutors by major is available here.

Writing Studio

Writers in any year and any discipline looking for more sustained writing support can request a Writing Partner through the Writing Studio program. The name “Writing Studio” might make you think of the kind of art studio you can find in Goodyear, with splashes of paint on the floor and groups of students clustered around each other’s artwork as they are guided through a critique. Like the art studio from which it gets its name, the Writing Studio is a collaborative space to experiment with writing and to find support in learning new techniques. The Writing Studio consists of weekly meetings with a Writing Partner for 4, 6, 8 weeks, or for the entirety of the semester. Some of the reasons students have chosen to request a Writing Partner include:

• to develop strategies for procrastination and perfectionism.
• for accountability in larger writing projects such as senior theses and capstones.
• as supplemental support while adjusting to college writing expectations.

Requests to join the Writing Studio can be made through this form. Any questions about the Writing Studio should be directed to Lucy McInerney (mcinernl@dickinson.edu), Assistant Director of the Writing Program.  

Multilingual Writers

Dickinson College is a diverse international and multilingual campus with many students whose first or primary language is not English. The Writing Program provides resources at all levels to support these multilingual writers in their academic writing for U.S. college classes. In addition to working with trained peer tutors in the Writing Center or requesting a Writing Partner through the Writing Studio, students can enroll in courses that will give them practice and instruction in US academic writing conventions or stop by the Writing Center for individual meetings with trained writing tutors.

• Writing Self-assessment and Directed Self-Placement: Prior to meeting for advising, incoming international students should complete a writing self-assessment checklist (here) to help them decide whether a Writing Program course would be an appropriate course selection in the fall. 
• WRPG 101 Perspectives on a Multilingual United States: Based on the results of the self-assessment, international and multilingual writers may be recommended to enroll in WRPG 101, Perspectives on a Multilingual United States, which is designed to provide multilingual and international students' additional experience and practice with academic writing. WRPG 101 also fulfills the US Diversity graduation requirement. WRPG 101 is open to all international or multilingual writers at Dickinson. Click here to see a sample syllabus for WRPG 101.

Writing Resources

Check out the Writing Studio blog for weekly writing tips and list of writing resources!