Faculty, students alike finding that UWAs are an invaluable resource

Undergraduate Writing Assistant Christine Philip, left, teaches two students how to conduct research using the library's databases and online research tools. Philip, a senior biomedical engineering major, is a second-semester UWA and is working in a W course in the Department of Industrial Engineering.

Having an Undergraduate Writing Assistant (UWA) assigned to your course is like having your “own personal writing center.”

At least that’s how John Belk, an undergraduate majoring in history and English, sees it. Having undergone training at the University Writing Center, Belk is now working as a UWA in the Department of Geology & Geophysics.

The UWA program is a pilot offering from the UWC that trains talented undergraduates like Belk to work directly with W course instructors. Although UWAs can’t grade assignments, they can help with just about any other aspect of teaching writing, including commenting on student drafts, designing assignments and rubrics, and holding one-on-one conferences.

Belk met with his instructor, Assistant Professor Julie Newman, early in the semester to learn more about her goals for the class. He also attends some of the class sessions to get a sense of the students’ needs.

“My job,” Belk explains, “is to make sure the instructor gets the writing she expects from the students. I do everything I can so she won’t have to look at papers and be disappointed.”

Having a UWA assigned to their course gives students a rare opportunity to get very specific feedback.

“I try my best to tailor all of my comments to what the professor wants,” Belk says, noting that most of the students he has worked with this semester seem “pleased with how much better their papers sound.”

At first, though, the students didn’t realize what a great resource Belk could be, observes Newman, who took matters into her own hands.

“I made it mandatory for one-third of the students to work with John and one-third of the students to work with me for the last assignment,” Newman says. “These one-on-one conferences were clearly helpful and led to more significant improvement than simply editing their work and requiring a second draft. Having a writing assistant, therefore, increases the number of students who can be reached in this way.”

Belk is currently one of 21 UWAs working on campus; several more are in training, including one graduate student. Senior Tara McGuigan is now in her second semester of work as a UWA. Assigned to a forest policy class last semester, she “helped revise prompts, helped develop outlines for papers, met with students, offered written comments, and provided online help and guidelines to the class regarding what the instructor expected.”

One of the advantages of the UWAs, notes McGuigan, is that they’re “less intimidating than a professor,” so students may be more likely to seek out extra help.

Associate Professor Diana Burton, the instructor for whom McGuigan worked, thinks students were fortunate to have her expertise.

“Most students who worked with Tara benefited a great deal from her guidance,” says Barton. “Their writing improved over the semester.”

McGuigan, who plans to teach high school after graduation, thinks that kind of improvement is what the UWA program is all about.

UWAs, McGuigan believes, “don’t just want students to make a good grade in the class; we want them to use what we’ve taught them in other classes and, more important, in their future careers.”

If you’re interested in nominating a UWA candidate or having a UWA assist with a W course you’re teaching, contact Dr. Valerie Balester at v-balester@tamu.edu.