Basic Steps for Starting a Writing Center

1. Visit other writing centers. Look for a variety of systems and approaches.
2. Read the writing center readings on the IWCA site, and the basic literature including The Writing Center Resrouce Manual from IWCA Press.
3. Join a regional and the International Writing Centers Association, meet the members, and ask as many questions as you can.
4. Subscribe to The Writing Center Journal free third wheel the movie download and the Writing Lab Newsletter.
5. If possible, join WCenter, the electronic conference devoted to discussion of writing center practice and theory.
6. Develop answers to the following questions:
   1. What will be the mission and philosophy of the center?
   2. Where will the center be located?
   3. Who will staff it?
   4. How will they be paid for their time?
   5. How will they be trained? By whom?
   6. How will the staff be evaluated? By whom?
   7. Where will funding for the center come from? Institutional budget lines? Grants? Combination?
   8. Where will materials for the center come from? What kinds of materials are needed?
   9. Who will be the constituencies of the center?
   10. How will they be served?
   11. What will the policies of the center be?
   12. Who will direct the center? To whom will that person report? What will the compensation be?
   13. How will records be kept? What information will need to be gathered? For whom? For what purposes? How often? How will it be distributed?
7. Write a goals and purposes statement for the center to clarify how your center will fit into your school’s structures and mission.
8. List the goals for a period of several years so you are sure of what you will aim for each year of operation.

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