Good writing consultation has to be learned. For this reason, four prospective writing consultants are being qualified to work at the Writing Center during the current winter semester. At weekly meetings, I, Annica, together with Betty, Tobias, and Laureen, receive an introduction to the writing process, accompanying methods and writing strategies, and, of course, tips for successful peer-to-peer consulting. We are the third group of students to be qualified by Nina Melching for writing consultation at the TU Dresden Writing Center.

© Nina Melching

At the beginning of the training, it quickly becomes clear that writing skills and a writing process are complex matters, because it is not just a matter of writing down a text that is as perfect as possible. Instead, the process already begins when you first deal with the question and the requirements of the lecturer. The writing process model, which the Writing Center uses and which we call the "writing dragon," clarifies everything that is involved in writing - as well as the fact that writing does not have to follow a fixed sequence. Instead, one often jumps back and forth between the work steps.

© eigene Darstellung nach Kruse, Otto und Grieshammer, Ella et. al

While we deal with the writing dragon in the qualification, we also reflect on our personal writing process: How do I start? Do I structure it first or do I prefer to put the first words down on paper right away? My colleague and aspiring writing tutor Betty illustrates how different our experiences are in her column "Planning is good - but so is writing on the fly".

It is important to know the possible similarities and differences between writing processes in order to be able to respond individually to those seeking advice in writing consultation. Because, as already mentioned, good writing advice needs to be learned. Therefore, the writing process is by no means the only topic that will come up in the next few weeks. Time management, academic language, testing writing strategies, and many other topics are still on the agenda until spring 2022. We will accompany the whole thing on our Instagram channel. Feel free to stop by there!

More information on the topic:

• Website on the training concept of the Writing Center of the TU Dresden.
• Website of the writing consultation with FAQ and registration
• Explainer film on academic writing competence:

This post appeared on the occasion of the first Writing Center Newsletter in December 2021. This and other newsletter issues are linked in the Writing Center Newsletter Archive.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)