overview

The Writing Fellows program, co-sponsored by the Writing Center and the L&S Pathways to Excellence Project, places undergraduates in positions of intellectual leadership. Fellows serve as role models for peers, gain invaluable experience as writers and readers, and work with other Fellows to improve the quality of writing instruction on campus.

Two beliefs underlie this program. The first is that collaboration among student peers is an especially effective mode of learning; the second is that all writers, no matter how accomplished, can improve their writing by sharing work in progress and making revisions based on constructive criticism. As a Writing Fellow, you will promote active dialogue between writers and readers and encourage your peers to see revision as a crucial part of all successful writing.

how the program works

Under the guidance of a course professor who has chosen to participate in the program, each Fellow works closely with 10 to 16 students in a Communications-B or writing-intensive course. Professors require their students to turn in drafts of assigned papers to the Fellow at least two weeks before the papers are due for a grade. During those two weeks, the Fellow reads drafts, writes comments on them, returns the drafts, and holds individual conferences with students. A Fellow works with the same group of students for the entire semester.

The Fellow's role is to facilitate good writing, not to serve as a judge. Fellows focus on helping students write more clearly and effectively, but do not grade papers. Fellows are not expected to be a specialist in the subject area of the courses in which they work, and are not expected to answer questions about the course content; such questions should be referred to the professor. Instead, Fellows make suggestions for revision and talk with student writers about how to express their ideas as effectively as possible.

When students turn in their papers to the professor for a grade, they will submit both their revised drafts and the earlier draft with the Fellow's comments.