1st Edition
Building a Workplace Writing Center A Sustainable Solution and Practical Guide
This practical resource provides guidance for writing professionals to sustainably tackle the organizational writing challenges of any professional environment.
Rooted in applied experience, Building a Workplace Writing Center guides readers through the process of developing a writing center, from assessing the needs of an organization and pitching the idea of a writing center, to developing a service model and measuring progress. Chapters explore what a writing center can offer, such as one-on-one writing consultations, tailored group workshops, and standardized writing guidance and resources. Although establishing a writing center requires time and a shift in culture up front, it is a rewarding process that produces measurably improved writing, less frustration with the writing and revision processes, and more confident, independent writers.
This guide is an invaluable resource for professionals across industries and academia considering how to establish an embedded, sustainable, and cost-effective workplace writing center. It will be of particular interest to business and human resource managers considering how best to improve writing skills within their organizations.
Part 1: Welcome to the Writing Center 1. Throwing Open the Doors 2. A Look Back at Writing Center History and a Look Ahead to New Frontiers Part 2: Building the Workplace Writing Center 3. Pitching and Ensuring a Successful Model 4. Mapping the Workplace 5. Determining Services 6. Branding and Marketing Part 3: Measuring and Communicating Progress 7. Needs Assessment 8. Data Logs 9. Surveys 10. Pre-Test/Post-Test Quasi-Experiment Part 4: Workplace Writing Center Professional Development 11. Identity Shifts from an Academic Role 12. Education, Experience, and Professional Development 13. Giving Back Local, Going Global 14. Conclusion
Biography
Jessica Weber Metzenroth has helped establish workplace writing centers in both the US and Southeast Asia. She founded and directs the Writing Center at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. She holds a PhD in Technical Communication and Rhetoric and has had her work and writings featured by Harvard Business Review, WLN: A Journal of Writing Center Scholarship, and the edited collection How Stories Teach Us: Composition, Life Writing, and Blended Scholarship.
"In most organizations, poor writing is like bad weather — everyone complains about it, but nobody does anything to fix it. Now there is a solution: build a writing center. Jessica Weber Metzenroth is the expert on how to do that, and this book is full of her wisdom. Read it and you'll learn how to fix the problem, instead of just whining about it."
- Josh Bernoff, bestselling author of Writing Without Bullshit and blogger at bernoff.com
