Writing Center

Fall 2021 Hours

• Monday - Thursday: 9:00am - 7:00pm

  • For additional online tutoring, please visit https://valenciacollege.edu/tutoring

  • TUTOR AVAILABILITY IS NOT GUARANTEED. If we receive advance notice of tutor absence, we will post the notice on the appropriate webpage. We encourage you to call if you need last minute details (407-582-7106).

Valencia Writes Together

The Lake Nona Campus Writing Center is dedicated to making writing a more comfortable learning experience for Valencia students.

Writing assistants are available on a walk-in basis in room 230 for many types of writing, such as an analytical paper for an English class, an argumentative essay for a political science class, a resume, a scholarship essay, and more. Whatever you bring, you may use the Writing Center as a resource while you brainstorm, outline, draft, revise, or research and cite; or while you polish grammar, punctuation, style, and formatting.

We also provide assistance preparing for the PERT's Reading and Writing subtests.

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Our Philosophy

On Writing

1. Writing is a process. Successful writers go back and forth between stages of outlining, drafting, revising, and polishing.

   The writing assistant's role is to guide students through that process and to help students identify learning goals and strategies so that they are strengthening their skills as they work.

2. There are no writing rules that are always true. The rules for what makes writing "good" or successful change based on the paper's purpose and audience.

   The writing assistant's role is to guide students through interpreting the purpose and audience and through making choices best suited to that particular paper.

3. Learning the above skills are the ingredients for a successful, confident writer. And it takes practice to learn those skills.

On Students

1. Students are writers. Yes, we mean that! In today's world, we are all writers who are constantly composing documents for personal and professional reasons.

2. Students are not "bad" writers. There is always more to learn and even the best writers gain from seeking feedback.

3. Students have important knowledge and skill to contribute. Students will know more than the writing assistant on certain subjects, such as the professor's expectations, their ideas for the paper, the subject matter of the course, and more.
   
   

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Linguistic Justice

One of Valencia College's big ideas is that "anyone can learn anything under the right conditions."  We believe that linguistic justice in our core aims and values is one of those conditions.  We strive to:

• Center student agency, voice, and experiences
  • Support students as they navigate the expectations of various language standards while advocating for their personal and cultural linguistic practices.
• Value linguistic diversity in all its varieties
  • Recognize the value of diversity in Englishes and the meshing (or combining) of languages, and welcome students' authentic selves in their writing and speech.
• Investigate tacit beliefs about the superiority of "standard" English
  • Emphasize effective communication, rhetorical choice, critical thinking, and personal expression over prescriptivism (the idea that there is only one correct standard of language).
• Invite dialogue on linguistic justice and its intersections with racism and other forms of social injustice
  • Develop our understanding of linguistic inequity and antiracist tutoring strategies through ongoing research and professional development.

This statement on linguistic justice in our writing center was inspired by and in part adapted from the SPSCC writing center's antiracism statement, the MSU writing center's language statement, and the UWT writing center's statement on antiracist and social justice work in the writing center.

• Suggest Reading
  1.  "Students' Right to Their Own Language," by the Conference on College Composition and Communication (1974)
  2. Gloria Anzaldua's  How to Tame a Wild Tongue (1987)
  3. "Should Writers Use They Own English?" by Vershawn Ashanti Young (2010)
  4. Writing Centers and the New Racism: A Call for Sustainable Dialogue and Change, edited by Laura Greenfield, Karen Rowan (2011)

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