Writing Center
From first-year students puzzling over a Human Behavior in the Social Environment assignment to those trying to master the finer points of APA style, many social work students find support and guidance at the School’s Writing Center. Headed by Director Warren Green, the Center works with master’s and doctoral students to help them achieve excellence in their written work.
Students often drop by before starting on their papers, Mr. Green says. “A lot of what we do is to work with students as they think through approaches to an assignment,” he says. For students whose backgrounds are in the humanities and other disciplines, writing a social science paper can be a new challenge. The Center’s tutors help them throughout the process—from narrowing their topic to developing an argument and fine-tuning their grammar and usage of APA style.
The center’s staff sees more than 200 students during the academic year. Mr. Green says he sees dramatic improvement in writing quality even in a short period of time. “It appears to be a valuable experience for those who come to see us,” he says. “It makes students aware of their own thinking and how to articulate that thinking. They are all seriously striving to be the best they can be.”
Throughout the year, Mr. Green sees examples of excellent student work that he may recommend for submission to the Columbia Social Work Review, an annual journal written and edited by CUSSW students. In the most recent issue, writers tackled issues ranging from the privatization of nonprofits to an analysis of evidence-based practice in social work. Through this effort, students provide their peers with critical feedback, much as Mr. Green and his staff do for so many students. Lauren Harris, a member of the Review’s editorial board, describes her editorial work as an opportunity to explore new ideas. “The editing process requires a total immersion in the subject matter,” Ms. Harris says, “and since my primary article for review was on mental health courts, it actually ended up opening a whole new field of interest for me.”
As Mr. Green says, “The more the Center can help students be involved in the critical analysis of their work and that of their colleagues, the better we are.”
“The more the Center can help students be involved in the critical analysis of their work and that of their colleagues, the better we are.”
Left to right: Warren Green, Marisa Yamano, Lauren Harris, Phillip Marotta