Researching the Writing Center—Towards an Evidence-Based Practice

Babcock (English, U. of Texas) and Thonus (KU Writing Center, U. of Kansas) address a variety of topics related to the research base for academic writing tutoring. Topics include writing center scholarship, research basics in evidence-based practice, tutoring contexts and tutoring different populations, an agenda for writing center research, tutoring activities, and an investigation of a sample research question: "What is a 'successful' writing consultation?" Annotation c2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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.