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The Rhetorical Function of Writing Center Employee Handbooks

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Bibliographic Details
Title: The Rhetorical Function of Writing Center Employee Handbooks
Language: English
Authors: Talisha Haltiwanger Morrison
Source: Writing Center Journal. 2025 43(2):149-163.
Availability: Writing Center Journal. e-mail: iwcaofficer@gmail.com; Web site: https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/wcj/
Peer Reviewed: Y
Page Count: 15
Publication Date: 2025
Document Type: Journal Articles
Reports - Research
Descriptors: Writing (Composition), Laboratories, Guides, Orientation Materials, Expectation, On the Job Training, Tutors, Tutor Training, Writing Instruction
DOI: 10.7771/2832-9414.1983
ISSN: 0889-6143
2832-9414
Abstract: In his award-winning book, "Around the Texts of Writing Centers," R. Mark Hall (2017) asserts the importance of everyday writing center texts, claiming that these documents "both enact and forward writing center scholarship" (p. 3). It is Hall's position that such "everyday" documents are essential to understanding the work of writing centers, but that their very ubiquity leads writing center scholars and administrators to ignore them or take their functions for granted. In this study, I take up Hall's call for more scholarly attention to everyday writing center texts through a thematic rhetorical analysis of nine writing center employee handbooks. I identify three primary rhetorical functions of the genre: orienting (new) tutors to the center, orienting (new) tutors to the work, and establishing expectations. My analysis reveals that although these handbooks are locally specific, they perform several common and important purposes for writing centers and warrant further scholarly examination.
Abstractor: As Provided
Entry Date: 2025
Accession Number: EJ1489167
Database: ERIC
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  Data: The Rhetorical Function of Writing Center Employee Handbooks
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  Data: In his award-winning book, "Around the Texts of Writing Centers," R. Mark Hall (2017) asserts the importance of everyday writing center texts, claiming that these documents "both enact and forward writing center scholarship" (p. 3). It is Hall's position that such "everyday" documents are essential to understanding the work of writing centers, but that their very ubiquity leads writing center scholars and administrators to ignore them or take their functions for granted. In this study, I take up Hall's call for more scholarly attention to everyday writing center texts through a thematic rhetorical analysis of nine writing center employee handbooks. I identify three primary rhetorical functions of the genre: orienting (new) tutors to the center, orienting (new) tutors to the work, and establishing expectations. My analysis reveals that although these handbooks are locally specific, they perform several common and important purposes for writing centers and warrant further scholarly examination.
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        Value: 10.7771/2832-9414.1983
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        StartPage: 149
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      – SubjectFull: Guides
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      – SubjectFull: Writing Instruction
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