They are a rare breed who love the complex process of thesis development, the endless variety of sentence structure and the art of the perfect transition. Their majors range anywhere from psychology to women's studies. They feel no student should conquer writer's block alone, and their lust for writing has put drive and passion back in UW students' pens. They are the writing fellows.
Founded by Brad Hughes and Jean Lutes in 1997, the Writing Fellows Program was formed in order to place undergraduate students in a leadership position at the university. In association with the Writing Center and the Letters & Science Pathways to Excellence Program, the Writing Fellows Program unites two beliefs: The first, that collaboration among student peers is an especially effective mode of learning; the second, that all writers, no matter how accomplished, can improve their writing by sharing work in progress and making revisions based on constructive criticism.
The process starts when writing fellows are assigned to writing intensive or communication-B courses (which Letters & Science requires for graduation). From there, they work closely with professors and student writers, reading and critiquing drafts of two formal papers. Along with writing marginal notes, the writing fellows include detailed endnotes that identify and explain key areas for revision.
After returning these drafts, fellows set a time to meet individually with each writer. Meetings can take place at the Catacombs, 731 State St., the Union or a coffee shop on State Street where the Fellow and student review the comments and discuss revision strategies. The review process is especially unique, and the key is the student and peer match. Since all of the writing fellows are undergraduates, there is no grading involved and a student-oriented review of an essay is given. There is no other program like this at the university, and the overall experience is hard to find anywhere else.
\The program isn't just geared towards English majors; we look for no one type of person and accept and expect different majors and writing styles,"" current writing fellow and assistant director of the program Ian Brunswick said. ""Those applying must be motivated, positive, enthusiastic-and like to write. [People who are] interested must have the ability to work with others to help bring about learning.""
But not just anyone can be a writing fellow. The application process is fairly competitive, averaging about 100 applicants per year, of which 25 to 30 are accepted into the program. The applicants range from sophomores to super-seniors.
For those accepted, training starts in the fall. Students enroll in English 316, an honors class devoted entirely to writing fellows taught by Emily Hall, the program's associate director.
""[Eng 316] trains students to be writing fellows and gives them hands-on advice, not just how to spot grammatical errors"" Hall said. ""The course also deals with larger more theoretical issues, such as 'What's the place of writing at the university?' and 'How do writers write?'""
Because students are active fellows during their training, much of class time is spent talking about the challenges they encounter, leading to much student led discussion. The students learn to teach. While teaching to learn, which is a major attraction to the program.
Writing fellows such as Brunswick said the experience they have while fellowing is nothing short of phenomenal, and rarely is there ever a student who doesn't feel the same way.
Applications to be a 2005-'06 writing fellow are due March 7, and can be found online at www.wisc.edu/writing/wf/main.html or at the Writing Center located in room 6171 Helen C. White.
