Researching the Writing Center ─ Towards an Evidence-Based Practice

Researching the Writing Center is the first book-length treatment of the research base for academic writing tutoring. The book reviews the current state of writing center scholarship, arguing that although they continue to value anecdotal and experiential evidence, practitioner-researchers must also appreciate empirical evidence as mediating theory and practice. Readers of this book will discover an evidence-based orientation to research and be able to evaluate the current scholarship on recommended writing center practice. Chapters examine the research base for current theory and practice involving the contexts of tutoring, tutoring activities, and the tutoring of «different» populations. Readers will investigate the sample research question, «What is a ‘successful’ writing consultation?» The book concludes with an agenda for future questions about writing center practice that can be researched empirically. Researching the Writing Center is intended for writing center professionals, researchers, graduate students in English, composition studies, and education, and peer tutors in training.

Rebecca Day Babcock is Associate Professor of English at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin, where she teaches writing and linguistics. She received her Ph.D. in English from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Her writings have appeared in journals, newsletters, and several popular publications. She has co-authored two books: A Synthesis of Qualitative Studies of Writing Centers, 1983–2006 (Lang, 2012) and Writing Centers and Disability. She is the winner of the IWCA 2011 Best Article Award.
Terese Thonus is Director of the KU Writing Center at the University of Kansas. She received her Ph.D. in Linguistics from Indiana University, Bloomington. Her work has appeared in the Writing Center Journal, Linguistics and Education, Journal of Second Language Writing, TESOL Journal, Text, and Discourse & Society. She also contributed a chapter to The St. Martin's Sourcebook for Writing Tutors.