Advisor(s)

Jaclyn Wells

Committee Member(s)

Cynthia Ryan
Jeffrey Bacha

Document Type

Thesis

Date of Award

6-18-2026

Degree Name

Master of Arts in English (MAE)

School

College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Arts & Humanities

Abstract

Writing center literature often focuses on the documents used to justify a center’s role in the larger institution while largely ignoring internal documents that aid in training. By also answering Babcock & Thonus (2012) and Driscoll & Perdue (2014)’s call for more replicable, aggregable, and data-based (RAD) research in writing centers, this study addresses this literature gap by conducting a qualitative study about a newly-implemented handbook at a public R1 university. The author first includes a description of the collaborative document creation process before describing the empirical methods used to assess the handbook’s effectiveness. The findings illustrate how effective handbooks streamline procedures and communication, establish clear standards and expectations, increase tutor confidence, and promote writing center work through visual design. The author argues for more RAD research and revision-focused approaches in writing center document creation.

Keywords

tutor training resources;writing center documents;writing center staff handbooks

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