Abstract
myth was well established in our minds and embedded in our job descriptions. Then, with typical irony, we punched our own ticket by using hard won, added on research to validate our service role. Let me put it another (only slightly exaggerated) way: as Writing Center Director my priorities are teaching, service, service, service, and then research—on our service. One step to develop the potential for systematic research in writing centers, as distinct from occasional research about writing centers, is to attempt to renegotiate the writing center statement of purpose, rewrite its myth of origins, so that research is a featured character, not a walk-on part. That might make for an interesting situation. It might mean, for instance, that research output, not the number of students served, would be the primary justification for writing center viability. It might mean that writing center directors would carry research appointments, and research budgets to go along with them, and job descriptions that have high expectations for publication in exchange for job security and promotion. It might mean that writing center training and procedures and environment would all change to meet the needs of research and publication. Is such a “renegotiation” desirable or even possible? Another way to get at this same issue is to ask, are we, the readers of The Writing Center Journal and The Writing Lab Newsletter, the research community to which we want to remain a viable contributor? Or is the research community that we seek to influence larger, more diverse, and less interested?
- Journal
- Writing Center Journal
- Published
- 2000
- DOI
- 10.7771/2832-9414.1461
- CompPile
- Open Access
- OA PDF Gold
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Citation context
Cited by in this index (5)
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Bryan (2024)Computers and Composition
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Carpenter et al. (2016)Computers and Composition
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Sheridan (2016)Computers and Composition
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Alexander et al. (2016)Computers and Composition
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Berry et al. (2016)Computers and Composition
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