Despite Harvard Writing Center Reshuffling, Freshmen Say They Are Finding Ways to Improve Their Writing

When Selah G. Edwards ’30 hit writer’s block, she turned to a decades-old campus resource: the Harvard College Writing Center.

She made an hour-long appointment with a peer tutor for the next day. The tutor, Edwards said, reviewed her writing prompt before asking questions to sharpen the paper’s focus.

“He really helped me change my entire paper around from a really discombobulated, less flowy state into a more cohesive understanding of a paper,” Edwards said.

The Writing Center was folded into the Academic Resource Center over the summer, as the Faculty of Arts and Sciences underwent sweeping restructuring. Several freshmen who spoke with The Crimson said they are still finding ways to improve their writing skills, despite ongoing fluctuations in the College’s writing support.

Edwards is one student who has continued to seek out the support of Writing Center tutors, while others have relied on resources like their Expository Writing preceptors’ office hours and peer editing.

Aubrey R. Geibelson ’30, who takes Expository Writing 20: “I Love That Dirty Water,” said her teacher required all students to meet to discuss their papers, which helped her outline a new draft.

“The mandatory meeting was very helpful to get feedback and just talk through my ideas,” Geibelson said.

Similarly, Helen J. Cereceda Arci ’30 said she felt that her Expos course itself had built in mechanisms to improve her writing. Across in-class peer review sessions and office hours with her professor, she thought the resources were a “more direct” way of soliciting feedback.

Another student, Madhavendra Thakur ’30, said he was supplementing Harvard resources with information he received in high school.

Thakur said he will consult “style manuals” compiled by a ninth grade English teacher when he wants to find ways to improve his writing. He said he also reads novels to help with inspiration.

Several students said they didn’t know they could leverage the ARC for support.

“I didn’t even know it existed,” Hugh C. Hatcher ’30 said, referring to the Writing Center.

Though the Writing Center’s director was laid off in July, the center has maintained that its core offerings remain unchanged, and that students can book appointments with peer tutors or attend drop-in hours.

In an emailed statement to The Crimson, ARC Director Donna L. Mumme wrote that support remains freely available for undergraduates “for any paper in any course.”

“Students—from first-years to seniors—have been scheduling appointments and attending drop-in hours throughout the fall semester,” Mumme added.

Several freshmen who have been to the ARC for writing and essay support said they received constructive advice.

Delbar Afshar Ghotli ’30 said her Expos teacher had encouraged students to make use of the writing resources in the ARC, and that she had appreciated working through an essay with one of the peer tutors. She said the experience had given her the confidence to return.

Ashfar Ghotli said she had recommended that some of her peers utilize the ARC after she went for the first time. But they did not have as positive of an experience, she said.

“Because of the person that was reading their thing, they weren’t necessarily giving helpful feedback,” she said. “It’s also kind of difficult because some of these people — they obviously haven’t taken your Expos, so they are coming into your essay with no knowledge.”

Other students said that representatives from the ARC presented in their Expos classes on the resources available to them.

Cereceda Arci said a peer tutor from the Writing Center explained to her Expos course that drop-in hours are more limited and decentralized than previous years.

“That’s kind of what stopped me and my friend from going in the first place, because it’s hard to hold yourself accountable to the appointment as a really busy freshman,” Cereceda Arci said.

For Edwards, the process of booking an appointment was smooth, but she felt she would have made more use of the resource had she known about the Writing Center sooner.

“It’s here for us. It’s accessible,” she said.