Student consultants in the College of Charleston’s Writing Lab have published 17 articles in international publications, including one in the January/February 2012 issue of The Writing Lab Newsletter. The Writing Lab is staffed by a faculty member and student consultants who provide one-to-one assistance for every stage in the writing process for term papers, essays, letters, memos, or book reviews.
“The large number of publications spanning more than two decades reflects how the Writing Lab promotes the development of the consultants as ‘tutor-scholars,’ that is, writers and learners who examine their work in the Writing Lab, interpret that work, and bring new insight into the field through their research,” says Bonnie Devet, Ph.D., director of the Writing Lab. “All the publications by the consultants are based on their experiences working with their fellow student writers in the Writing Lab. As a result, the consultants reflect the best of being scholarly writers and researchers at the College, making the Writing Lab is a center for peer learning and education.”
The Writing Lab’s most currently published article is authored by Devet and former student consultant Alison Barbiero ’11, and is titled “Dear Labby: Stressing Interpersonal Relationships in a Writing Lab.” The article appears in The Writing Lab Newsletter, a peer-reviewed, internationally distributed publication of the International Writing Center Association.
“I am currently working as an intern at CNN in NYC, but my long-term aspirations are to become a television/film producer or writer,” Barbiero says. “Writing this article taught me so much that I’ll be able to use in my career. I learned how many times an article is rewritten/restructured before it goes to print. It helped me as a writer to take a piece and see it evolve, as the tone, wording, and even author point of view shifted to best suit the readers and the newsletter. I learned that you can’t get too attached to anything you write because it can always be improved!”
Student consultants have published articles on their own and with Devet over the past two decades on a variety of topics from “International Students and the Writing Lab” to “Writing Centers: Being Proactive in the Education Crisis,” which was nominated for the Outstanding Scholarship (Article) of the Year by the International Writing Center Association. The consultants of the Writing Lab have been involved in the history of the College. One consultant had her article reprinted in a book about the College (College of Charleston Voices Campus and Community) since her writing reflected student attitudes.
An article by Bonnie Devet, Ericka Burroughs, Lydia Hopson, Donna Kenyon, Trisha Martin, Cheryl Sims, Home Norment, Liz Yong, professor Sylvia Gamboa, and professor Kathy Haney was printed in several publications include The Writing Lab Newsletter (1990) and The Post and Courier (2010). The article, entitled “The Hurricane and the Writing Lab,” focused on how the Writing Lab at the College dealt with the emotions students showed as they wrote papers about Hurricane Hugo, which devastated the Charleston region in 1989.
For more information, contact Bonnie Devet at 843.953.5635.
