A Writing Center Journal
What happens when we write? Why do we teach writing the way we do? How does writing education engage with questions of race, gender, accessibility, and cultural difference? How does the writing center function as an interdisciplinary space?
Axis extends the writing center conversation from Praxis, our peer reviewed scholarly journal, into a public forum. Exploratory, experimental, and informative, the blog speaks to questions on the cutting edge of writing center theory and practice. Axis features writing from undergraduate and graduate educators at the University of Texas at Austin, and guest writers from universities across the United States.
"...as someone who has in the past taken to the streets, I want to add my voice to this forum and recommit myself to placing my body amongst others who take direct action and publically protest."
Read MoreHow are writing centers equipping their consultants with the experiences and skills needed in today's job market?
Read More"Though I might not be consulting right now, I will always be a consultant." One of our managing editors reflects on his time off from consulting.
Read MoreDoes the rhetoric of the safe space have a place in writing centers? How might writing center practice challenge or support Dean John Ellison's recent letter condemning trigger warnings and safe spaces in higher education?
Read MoreSara Saylor and Tom Lindsay sit down with Praxis to chat about their experiences consulting with graduate student writers, the difficulties and rewards of working with this community, and the state of graduate student support in writing centers, particularly at UT.
Read More"I’ve been in tearful consultations with 6th-year students who wonder whether they’ll ever finish and in feverishly optimistic writing-feedback groups. I’ve presided over more than 700 student work hours of writing retreats and facilitated 16 writing groups and held dozens of one-on-one consultations about everything from advisor management to the tricky use of indefinite articles in American Academic English. I’ve waded through the recent explosion in research about graduate writers and even more explosive polemics about them."
Read MoreSome concluding thoughts for the summer from managing editor James Garner.
Read MoreA brief recap of the March 2006 issue of Teaching English in the Two-Year College along with a discussion of how its topics fit our CFP
Read MoreA new CFP for Praxis's Fall 2017 issue!
Read MoreShould writing center consultants feel free to introduce the topic of self care?
Read MoreAn CFP on multimodal writing with exciting implications for writing centers.
Read MoreShould consultees have a chance to speak up about Writing Center practice on Axis?
Read MoreHappy trails to you, until we meet again.
Happy trails to you, keep smilin' until then.
Who cares about the clouds when we're together?
Just sing a song and bring the sunny weather.
Happy trails to you, 'till we meet again.
Some trails are happy ones,
Others are blue.
It's the way you ride the trail that counts,
Here's a happy one for you.
A brief welcome and update from the new senior managing editor.
Read MoreToday we have asked Dawn Fels, Clint Gardner, Maggie Herb, and Liliana M. Naydan to comment on recent administrative decisions related to specific writing centers- decisions that have attracted a great deal of attention in the field. We are grateful for their willingness to enunciate their stance with such vigor and clarity. We welcome responses to and elaborations of this post, as we do with all AXIS posts.
Read MoreToday a public/private partnership between New America, Arizona State University and the online magazine Slate will hold an event called “Trust But Verify: The Crisis in Biomedicine.” The ‘crisis’ the title refers to results from a recent, widespread realization that important research in the field may be fundamentally flawed, a majority of it impossible to replicate for various reasons. This same crisis is occurring in the field of psychology, causing practitioners to question some of their basic clinical assumptions. An obvious question presents itself: is there a reproducibility crisis in writing center research?
Read MoreI’ve spent a lot of time as the only man in the room. Having worked (mostly with infants) in early childhood education after earning my English degree, and having attended a master’s program in feminist theory, spaces where women are the norm are familiar and pleasant places to me. Maybe this is why I like writing centers.
Read MoreThis is the transcript of an interview conducted by Dr. Tom Lindsay, an active member of our editorial review board, with Praxis Managing Co-Editor Thomas Spitzer-Hanks. Dr. Lindsay is representing Praxis today at the Conference on College Composition and Communication in Houston, Texas and we'd like to thank him for the opportunity to publish this interview.
Read MoreTwo weeks ago today the North American writing center community was shocked and saddened to hear that the University of British Columbia, one of the largest and oldest universities in Canada, ranked among the 50 most reputable universities in the world by U.S. News & World Report, Times Higher Education, and The Academic Ranking of World Universities while educating 58,000 students on two campuses that occupy nearly 15,000 acres, plans to close their writing center in September 2016.
Read MoreToday we are restarting another feature from vintage Praxis: the Featured Center. This feature's original purpose was to provide an opportunity for writing centers to share information about their operational practices and the philosophy behind them; today's center, The Writing Center at Mississippi State, has very generously shared a great deal of information that not only offers other centers the opportunity to think critically about their own operational practices but about why those choices were made. AXIS would like to thank Stacy Kastner, Rich Raymond, Kayleigh Few and Sava Kolev for their cooperation.
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