Our Mission

One mission of the Writing Studio is community outreach. The Writing Studio is passionate about making more confident and effective writers, who feel empowered as communicators and meaning-makers. In the past, this outreach has extended beyond the university to several high schools and betterment programs and is powered by the tutors who spearhead these initiatives. Within the university, the Studio also regularly reaches out to partner with associations like Sigma Tau Delta, Rhetoric Society of America, and the Graduate English Association, as well as larger university offices like the Offices of Disability Services and Graduate Programs, to name a few. Our Community Outreach can take many forms, including:

Introductory Classroom Visits

Each semester, classroom visits are regularly requested by instructors and faculty who want to introduce their students to the Writing Studio resource. These visits usually last 15-20 minutes and serve as a mini-orientation for the Studio. Visiting tutors will bring handouts explaining how to access Studio services, how to make appointments, and the Studio’s policies and protocols. Students often ask general questions about what to expect, and how to prepare. We find that these icebreaker sessions often make students more comfortable if they are new to writing centers.

Writing Studio Clinics 

Like the introductory classroom visits, Writing Studio Clinics also take place in the classroom. These longer, more involved visits are often collaborations between 1-2 tutors and the instructor and are tailored to fit the needs of the class. Traditionally, these tutors come for the duration of the class session and act as a guest lecture or workshop facilitator. Past topics for clinics include focused work on sources and citations, grammar refreshers, graduate writing expectations, and resume building. 

New Student Orientations

Each fall, Studio staff host tables and conduct sessions at GSU’s student orientation events. Some of these sessions perform the same introductory work as our Introductory Classroom Visits, while other sessions may focus on specific student cohorts and the questions they may have. Staff are not only on-hand to answer questions, but they also provide a variety of support materials to help them settle into academic writing.

The National Day on Writing

The National Day on Writing, October 20th, is an educational initiative that highlights the myriad ways in which writing informs, entertains, and expresses. According to the NCTE, the National Day on Writing:

was founded by the National Council of Teachers of English on the premise that writing is critical to literacy but needs greater attention and celebration.

The Writing Studio supports this initiative and, in partnership with GSU’s Graduate English Association, sponsors our celebration of the event. Materially, GSU’s National Day On Writing takes two major forms: the hashtag #whyiwrite, which we promote through the classrooms and in our writing spaces, and a lunchtime event in the GSU Plaza. Organizations are invited to host tables that celebrate the day with a writing-themed activity that also promotes themselves. These activities might be as simple as making a bookmark or a playing a word game for prizes, or as detailed as providing a literacy narrative for the DALN. 

Partnerships

The Writing Studio participates in a variety of partnerships, like the National Day on Writing, in which we pair with other student associations and university services. These partnerships, which support our aim of supporting student writing in any way we can, take the form of tutor clinics, write-ins, and specialty pop-up events. Recent events include a partnership with the Underground Journal, supporting student authors finalizing their fall submissions; speed-tutoring for a series of events with Sigma Tau Delta; and hosting a location for the 25 Park Place Tower Crawl; and How to Adult, an informational event co-sponsored with the Multicultural Center and the Office of Disability Services.