The Writing Center

Explore everything you can imagine with a peer-tutor at the Writing Center!

Start, Develop, and Finish Your Next Writing Project with Us!

Bring ideas or drafts: academic, professional, or personal.
Talk with a peer tutor about your grammar, arguments, and craft.
Belong to a community that values your voice and creativity.

Write in a Group

Check out our Writers' Room schedule and FAQ. We meet in the Olympia Campus Writing Center from 5 pm–7 pm, Monday–Thursday evenings to write together. Join us!

Make a One-on-one Appointment

Call us at (360) 867-6420 to set up an appointment at the Tacoma or Olympia campus.
Visit us in the Library building in room 2304 to set up an appointment at the Olympia Campus.
Visit us in the Mimms Hardiman Lyceum Hall in room 124 to set up an appointment at the Tacoma Campus.

Walk-in appointments are often available, but we recommend scheduling in advance. At the Olympia campus, appointments can be held in English or Spanish. See About Appointments and Spanish Writing Sessions for more information. Our sessions often begin with an "Author’s Note" [.doc] which you can fill out in advance or during your session.

Our Mission

Our mission is to support Evergreen writers of diverse abilities and identities by cultivating confidence, skills, self-awareness, and agency at every stage of the writing process through peer-to-peer collaboration.

Our Vision

We envision a Writing Center…
...where all students feel that they can lay claim to the identity of “writer”
...where all students leave each session with increasing confidence in their next steps
...with a reputation for providing valuable support services for the Evergreen community
...that is accountable for its failings and is constantly working towards growth and improvement
...that serves the authentic needs of students and provides them with useful resources
...that engages the dynamic tension between equitable student access to the language of power and recognizing the validity of writing in “Multiple Englishes”
...where the staff is representative of the community we serve
...that collaborates with other on-campus support services to serve students
...where all students across diverse abilities and identities feel comfortable and empowered to use the Writing Center
...that holds the institution accountable to continually engage in the pursuit of equity as it relates to student writing

Conversations

The Writing Center pursues its mission in relationship to many levels of stakeholders, including: the diverse students of Evergreen, the Administration of the College, the Faculty, the greater community of Writing Centers in higher education and the greater community of writers at large. We hope through this collection of letters to reveal our history of thought and include ourselves in the ongoing dialogues about how to best serve our multilayered communities.

About Cultivating Voice: A Writing Tutor’s Craft

Students interested in becoming a peer writing tutor are required to take a two-credit course, Cultivating Voice: A Writing Tutor’s Craft, offered every Spring at the Olympia and Tacoma campuses.

Cultivating Voice combines readings, reflective writing, seminar, and a practicum to prepare students to become peer tutors in the Writing Centers. During class, students explore tutoring theories, examine the role of a peer tutor, and develop effective tutoring practices. In the practicum, students will observe peer tutoring and graduate to supervised tutoring. The course also will encourage students to examine and address their own biases as they relate to race, class, gender, ability, and more, while working with writers. Please refer to the current Cultivating Voice Catalog Course Description for more information.

This class is a prerequisite for becoming a tutor in either Writing Center.
We welcome students who speak more than one language to apply.
Students interested in becoming tutors should have completed at least one quarter at Evergreen prior to taking Cultivating Voice.
We actively seek students from all academic disciplines.
Entry into the class does not guarantee a position as a writing tutor.

¡Necesitamos Tutores!

This year, the Writing Center is piloting a program to better serve multilingual students and more specifically, to serve students who are Spanish speakers. Students who are interested in tutoring through this program do not need to be “perfect” speakers or writers of Spanish, just as tutors of English don’t need to be “perfect” speakers or writers of English in order to facilitate excellent peer-tutoring sessions. Students who wish to participate in our pilot program should apply for Cultivating Voice: A Writing Tutor’s Craft. You will receive specific instruction for how to tutor within this pilot program in Cultivating Voice.

"Cultivating Voice 2018 Application"[PDF]

The application period for Cultivating Voice Spring 2018 has closed. The next enrollment period will be in February of 2019.