This article presents a constructivist writing placement framework, developed from the study of two pilot iterations of a local writing placement mechanism at a large public research university. Through preliminary analysis of data from these pilots, we present a model of constructivist writing placement and demonstrate how it helps move conceptualizations of student agency as primarily housed within student exercise of choice toward more robust understandings and facilitation of student agency via placement. Extending recent calls to reconsider methodological traditions like directed self-placement to more explicitly account for educational equity issues, our two pilot assessments illustrate how we might reposition student agency within writing placement as emergent from situational interactions with faculty and the institutions they represent, rather than merely authorized by them.

While scholarship on supporting graduate writers in the writing center has increased in recent years, guides outlining best practices for writing center consultants rarely speak to graduate students working with other graduate writers. In this article, we present a practical guide for graduate writing consultants. Written collaboratively by graduate writing consultants and a program coordinator, this guide represents our collective knowledge built over several years of conducting writing consultations and professional development in graduate writing support. Inspired by Adler-Kassner and Wardle’s “threshold concepts,” our guide is organized around two fundamental ideas: 1) that positionality plays an important role in interactions between consultants and graduate writers, and 2) that consultants must cultivate disciplinary awareness to be successful graduate writing coaches. In each section, we synthesize our own experiences as graduate writers and consultants with writing studies scholarship, and present concrete strategies for conducting graduate-level writing consultations. Through this guide, we demonstrate the mutual benefit of involving graduate student writing consultants in the production of knowledge in writing centers.

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