Good writing doesn’t come easily. Even the seasoned pros constantly work at it, creating multiple drafts to get it right. So it's hardly surprising when first-year students find writing their first university level essay intimidating.
Academic writing is a special case—a world unto itself. What student hasn’t felt daunted by the rigours of the research paper, the fussiness of footnotes or the call for clarity, logic and accuracy of the lab report?
Unfortunately, acceptance into a degree program doesn’t automatically bestow proficiency in scholarly composition. That’s why UVic students from all disciplines and at all levels of sophistication—whether they are attempting their first writing assignment or polishing the prose of their dissertation—make their way to the campus's Writing Centre.
There, under the expert guidance of tutors, they improve their skills at the craft. The centre offers one-on-one 25-minute tutorial sessions with graduate students from the faculties of education, fine arts, humanities, science and social sciences. Instead of editing students’ texts, tutors help them learn to edit their own work, identify patterns of errors and clarify the organization of their writing.
The centre also offers popular workshops and seminars that focus on common issues in academic writing. Recent workshops—designed and delivered by the tutors—have dealt with identifying and avoiding common grammatical errors and organizing and revising the research essay.
Dan Harvey, a graduate student in UVic’s interdisciplinary Cultural, Social and Political Thought Program, is excited to be working as a Writing Centre tutor. “Being a tutor and helping people with their writing is very satisfying,” says Harvey, who plans to pursue a PhD and teach at the university level.
Harvey's experience at the centre reflects the fact that improving one's writing skills is a lifelong journey. “I’ve been pleasantly surprised at the variety of students coming in; instead of just seeing first- and second-year undergraduates and international students, we’ve had a number of upper-level undergraduates and graduate students from a mixture of disciplines.”
One of the students who is working with the tutors is Mohammad Nasser Jahani Asl, a PhD student in sociology. “I’m learning a lot from them,” Jahani Asl says. “They are very respectful people, very patient and friendly. They encourage you.”
Jahani Asl was born in Iranian Kurdistan and Kurdish is his first language. In school he was forced to study in Persian and Arabic, and he has also learned Turkish and English. “I still haven’t mastered English at the level I wish, but I am always working to improve it,” he says.
Laurie Waye, Writing Centre coordinator, has long been interested in language learning and writing development. She holds a UVic BA in English and linguistics and earned an MEd at Temple University’s Tokyo campus, where she also taught writing. Recently, under her leadership, the centre has expanded its mandate to provide increased support specifically for graduate students and students whose first language is not English.
“My experience teaching first-year composition and working with students for whom English is an additional language provides me with pedagogic tools useful in creating a supportive and educational environment for both students and the tutors themselves,” says Waye. She is currently researching academic writing development for international graduate students who have English as a second language.
For more information about the Writing Centre, visit their website at http://ltc.uvic.ca/servicesprograms/twc.php.
Originally published in Volume 1, Issue 2 of the Fountain, February 2008