The Peer Writing Center

Peer Writing brings together Bates students with trained peer assistants for collaborative conversation at any stage of the writing or speaking process. The program provides a robust, convenient, student-centered option for students seeking to develop their writing or speaking.

In 2010-11 writing assistants conducted more than 2,900 one-to-one conferences and met with more than 850 different Bates students. As students themselves, peer writing assistants communicate on students’ terms and in their language, bringing student-oriented perspectives, insights, and local knowledge to the conversation.

One group of writing assistants staffs the Peer Writing Center in Ladd Library. The Center is open to students on a drop-in basis, Sundays through Fridays, with daytime and evening hours. Conferences typically last between thirty and fifty minutes.

A second group of peer writing assistants works with the students in writing-attentive courses while collaborating closely with the instructor. The writing assistant serves as a direct resource for the class, working with students one-to-one or in small groups outside class hours and getting to know them and their individual strengths.

Student comments about writing assistants

• “The writing assistant helped me to think about my paper more as a whole rather than just sentence by sentence. I now find myself doing much more rearranging with paragraphs and sentences to make my papers flow more logically.”
• “I would often go in worried, and leave relieved.”
• “The writing assistant made me question what I was actually saying in my paper. As a writer I tend to overdo it at times. He helped me get straight to the point.”
• “I had to talk through my ideas, and this helped me articulate them in writing more clearly.”
• “The writing assistant was very effective at asking the right questions to help me re-think the content of my talk at micro and macro levels. She was very approachable, respectful, and supportive – she even came to the talk.”

For more information contact:
Joanne Cole
Coordinator, Peer Writing Project
207 753-6986
peerwriting@bates.edu