Writing Proficiency Degree Requirement

The Center administers the Writing Proficiency Degree Requirement, one of the General Education requirements mandated by the Trinity faculty. The requirement has two components: "The First-Year Program" and "The Program for All Students." For "The First-Year Program," a faculty committee reviews all entering first-year students and may require some to take English 101, Writing, a college-level introduction to the art of expository writing. For "The Program for All Students," the Center offers a variety of elective writing courses and other programs and services to support the writing needs and interests of students throughout their four years at Trinity.

Writing and Rhetoric Courses

In addition to English 101, which is offered every semester, the following writing and rhetoric courses are available on a regular or rotating basis:

English 103, Special Writing Topics; English 202, Expository Writing Workshop; English 208, Argument and Research Writing; English 225, Writing "Broad Street" Stories (a community learning course); English 226, The Spirit of Place: Writing with an Active/Reflective Eye; English 300, The Art of the Essay; English 331, The Art of Argument; and English 338, Political Rhetoric and the Media.

Interdisciplinary Minor in Writing and Rhetoric The Interdisciplinary Minor in Writing and Rhetoric offers students the opportunity to study the arts of language and logic. An examination of how writing, speaking, and critical and creative thinking are interrelated in the liberal arts is combined with extensive practice in a wide range of contemporary genres--from personal narrative to analytical argument and electronic dialogue. For more details on this minor, see the Trinity Bulletin.

Individual Tutoring

All students are encouraged to take advantage of the Writing Center's individual tutoring services at 115 Vernon Street. At any stage of the writing process, specially trained peer tutors can help students learn how to analyze an assignment, develop a clear and effective argument, revise and edit a rough draft, and improve proofreading skills. The Center provides help with all kinds of writing, from the first critiques assigned in First-Year Seminars to senior theses and admissions essays for graduate and professional schools. The center is fully networked, with both PC and Mac computers available for students to use. Students can drop in or call (860)

297-2468 to make an appointment. During the semester, hours are 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. and 6:30 to 9:30 p.m., Monday through Thursday. Late night hours, 10:00 p.m. until midnight, are also held Sunday and Wednesday nights in Summit East.

Student Workshops

A series of writing, reading, and study skills workshops are conducted each year by Center faculty. These one-hour workshops are open to all Trinity students on a space-available basis. Recent workshop topics have included "Writer's Block," "Writing Essay Exams," "Grammar Kills Me," and "The Elements of E-mail Style."

Writing Associates Program

The Writing Associates Program prepares highly talented undergraduate writers to supplement faculty efforts in the classroom and to expand the opportunities for helping writers on campus and in the community. Students are selected by a special committee composed of faculty members and senior writing associates. Those students selected to be writing associates take English 302, Writing Theory and Practice, while serving as apprentice peer tutors in the Writing Center. In subsequent semesters, student writing associates affiliate with faculty members as teaching assistants in courses across the curriculum and work as writing tutors in the Writing Center, in residence halls, and in a number of other campus and community contexts.

Contact Information

For more information on the Allan K. Smith Center for Writing and Rhetoric:

Beverly Wall, Director
(860) 297-2459
beverly.wall@trincoll.edu

Roberta Rogers-Bednarek, Administrative Assistant
(860) 297-2036
roberta.rogersbednarek@trincoll.edu

Trinity College Writing Center Online