The Writing Center Philosophy
The primary goal of the Writing Center is to help students develop their writing skills in rhetoric, organization, style, and structure, through one-on-one interactive conferences with faculty consultants.
We believe that writing is a recursive activity involving several steps that include generating ideas, organizing thoughts, developing a first draft, rewriting, and editing.
The work of writing consultants is to engage in a conversation with students about how to conceptualize and develop an idea, how to write persuasively and with sophistication, and how to correct their own errors at the level demanded by college courses. We don't edit or copy-edit the work of students, but instead, we work with students so that they can learn to edit for themselves.
The work of learning to write better requires the absorption of knowledge and then the practice of what has been learned. For this reason, conferences are limited to 25 minutes. Students are encouraged to revise their papers after a session and to sign up for additional sessions on subsequent days.
Because the idea of the writing conference is a collaboration between the writer and the consultant, students should be active participants in the session, and should learn to identify what types of writing issues with which they need help. Consultants will help the student to identify areas of the paper that need work. Together they move forward towards the improvement of the student's writing within the context of a specific written assignment. The writing conference works through the interaction of both student and consultant.
The Learning, Writing, and Speaking Centers
Gleeson Library | Geschke Center | Lower Level G03
2495 Golden Gate Ave, San Francisco, CA 94117
Hours:
Monday - Friday: 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Saturday - Sunday: CLOSED