The Student Center for Research, Writing, and Information Technology (RWIT) at Dartmouth's Institute for Writing and Rhetoric welcomes requests for Writing Assistants (WAs) from faculty across the disciplines. The limits of our staff size and the class schedules of our WAs can sometimes make it difficult to find a suitable match, but we will do our best to honor any reasonable request. Requests submitted more than one month before the start of term will be considered first. If you have questions, contact RWIT's interim Director, Liz Mackey.
Faculty may request a WA for any course by completing the following brief form, which asks for information about the course and about initial plans for working with a WA:
Please note: We are at capacity for W23 and are no longer accepting requests. We will reopen the form and process for S23 classes in March.
The Writing Assistance Program (WAP) pairs faculty teaching writing-intensive courses with WAs, who are students trained as peer tutors for the Writing Center. WAs support your students by responding to essay drafts through marginal notes and end commentaries. If time allows, WAs might also work with student writing in one-on-one meetings or group tutorials. In return for this service, the WAP asks that professors meet regularly with their WAs to discuss expectations, assignments, deadlines, and performance feedback.
While WAs want to serve as resources for your students, they are also eager to further their education. So, much like Presidential Scholars, WAs require mentoring. Expect to maintain regular dialogue with your WA to ensure that you, your students, and the WA enjoy a productive collaboration. Successful WA requests will outline a collaboration that makes good use of WAs' time and training, provides sufficient work (between 30 and 50 hours per term), and observes program guidelines. Please read program information before deciding whether and how to incorporate a WA into your course.
Please remember that WAs are not intended to replace faculty feedback on student work. If adopting a WA means that you will provide less feedback to your students, we ask that you reconsider your approach. If it appears that WA feedback is replacing faculty feedback in a course where that feedback is integral to the instruction (like the first-year seminar), we may not grant a WA request.
The WAP does not serve WRIT 5 courses or WRIT 2-3 courses.
WAs may not be involved in any grading of student work. This policy is in line with the guidelines established in the Dartmouth Faculty Handbook. We ask that faculty do not discuss any students' grades with WAs.
Students are not eligible to act as a WA for a course they are taking.
In order to act as a Writing Assistant, a student must be on staff as an RWIT Tutor.