Revitalizing the lost process of revision

Abstract

Outside of the Writing Center, the process of revision has been continuously condensed into proofreading and editing. Clients are increasingly visiting the Writing Center with preconceived expectations of the tutor's role as editor, demanding, during the sessions, the address of lower-order above higher-order concerns. Most clients come to the center for help in their composition courses; therefore, the composition professors' portrayal of the Writing Center and the revision process is transmitted onto students; also, this results from the status quo of the "lacking dialogue between writing center workers and composition teachers" (Grimm 1996). The Writing Center and composition courses have a responsibility, as the pivotal writing locations on university campuses, to restore and redefine the lost process of revision. Through conducting interviews with composition instructors and surveys of composition students, this research study reveals the importance of building a relationship between the Writing Center and composition instructors to emphasize content over grammar and to support revision over editing. This study was presented at the East Central Writing Centers Association Conference in March 2012.