You Should Probably Visit The Writing Center

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at MSU chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.

The Writing Center at Michigan State University is not what you think it is: your typical one stop “fix-it” shop for grammar and editing. Before I had the experience of working and utilizing the Writing Center, I had thought it was just that… and I couldn’t have been more wrong. The Writing Center at MSU (WCMSU) is a hub for creativity, expressionism, care, and brainstorming, all while doing its best to ensure it actively does anti-racist work in the consulting process. 

At the WCMSU, we (as consultants) are taught to actually redirect grammar and editing requests… and it’s for a very important reason. Linguistic justice is something that is talked about frequently in the Writing Center as a tool to uplift and uncensor uses of language that aren’t centered on the white majority perspective of “correctness.” When correcting grammar, spelling, or punctuation of an individual that is of a different background, language, or positionality, there is a chance that you are misinterpreting or altering the way they put themselves into the world. In that same way, you may be unintentionally contributing to the ways that society shapes particularly people of color individuals to fit the majority narrative, which can ultimately harm and silence. Because of this, the WCMSU focuses on the “big picture” of the requests of writers. Some of the “big picture” things that the WCMSU works with writers to achieve are: overall clarity and tone, an argument that is well supported, an assignment that meets requirements, and of course, brainstorming ideas from square one! 

The WCMSU believes that the consulting process always has been, and always will be, political. I mean that because they encounter so many different people, backgrounds, beliefs, writing styles, languages, etc., there is no way to ignore them and the different ways they interact with writing and the world around them that is therefore reflected in their writing. The WCMSU actively works to “responsively address systemic and local barriers to access and opportunities” to ensure that every voice is heard and every individual feels as comfortable as possible walking through their doors to ask for help: something that is vulnerable to begin with, no matter who you are. You will likely never be told “you are wrong” at the Writing Center. At its core, the WCMSU believes that there are countless ways to interpret life, language, and the idea of being. 

I went into the WCMSU with nothing but a vague idea in my mind, sat down with a consultant, and left with numerous detailed ideas ready to be written down. This is not to say that the Writing Center just hands out ideas, no. The WCMSU asks the important questions so that you can come to your own ideas — questions like, “what do you mean when you say ___?” or “why do you think this character did ___?” Questions like these force the writer to sit in their own opinion and interpretation of whatever paper, project, lab report, etc., that they are working on, and begin to question why they think of things the way that they do, and from there, begin to question the ways they approach said topic. 

When I say that you should visit the WCMSU, I am not saying you have bad grammar or punctuation — quite the opposite actually. I am also saying that we all need another mind to bounce ideas off of to perhaps sharpen our own, to give us a stronger leg to stand on, and the WCMSU is exactly the place to do that (also, there’s puzzles, coloring pages, plants, dogs, and so much more to be found at the WCMSU… you might want to visit for that reason alone)! The WCMSU is a space where creativity, knowledge, expertise, and care flows from person to person — who wouldn’t want to be a part of that?