Where theory and practice collide : beyond essentialist descriptions of the writing center

This dissertation explores definitions frequently applied to the writing center from within and without the writing center community. In particular, this project argues that a strong strain of essentialist thought underlies the predominant definitions of and discussions about the theoretical and practical nature of the writing center. What results from these essentialist-determined discussions is a vision of the writing center that provides the writing center community only the most generic introductions to and critiques of theory and practice.

Section one introduces the types of questions to be discussed throughout the project. Section two reviews the writing center community's current body of theory and practice and outlines some of the gaps that exist between the two areas of discussion. Section three presents a discussion of five exemplary writing center programs. Section four critiques the epistemological assumptions on which much writing center theory and practice is based and discusses the tensions that arise out of attempts to posit a pristine epistemological space within which the writing center can exist. Section five presents a discussion of ways to move beyond the limits of epistemologically-influenced descriptions of writing center theory and practice and to understand the writing center as postdisciplinary.