More experienced, confident writers may experience difficulties with writing, for example, when they try to write about complex and unfamiliar material, when they face writing tasks that are new to them, when the material or social conditions in which they must work are detrimental to their writing process, or when they are distracted by other concerns. Student writers face many of the same problems, and they deserve our attention and respect when they attempt to address them. The help we provide is intended to foster independence. We do not, therefore, edit or proofread student papers. Instead, we teach students how to edit and proofread their own work more accurately and efficiently.
Advice given in consultations is professional but non-directive.
The invention of ideas and supporting statements remains the writer's responsibility. The consultation belongs to the student. This is why students have access to the records we keep of their work with us and why we do not notify teachers of their students' visits if students ask us not to. We also view initiating and sponsoring research and advising faculty teaching undergraduate courses as support for student writers. The staff of a professional writing center should not only remain current with scholarship in writing center theory and practice, composition pedagogy, and related fields, but they should actively contribute to the making of knowledge in these fields.