Georgia State Writing Studio Helps University Community Find Its Voice

English isn’t Debosmita Mallick’s first language, but as a longtime student of it in her native India, she’s comfortable speaking and writing it.

A first-year computer science major, enrolling at Georgia State University brought her to the U.S. for the first time and, while she’s not planning a career in the humanities, she nonetheless recognizes the value of her undergraduate English classes and wants to do well.

That’s why, when a professor assigned her class to write a narrative describing their relationship with languages, Mallick sought out Georgia State’s Writing Studio.

“It’s a fun place to brainstorm and a good place to sit and collaborate,” Mallick says. “I wanted help on plot and characters. Going to the Writing Studio helped organize my thoughts more clearly.”

Distinguished University Professor of English Lynée Gaillet says writing instruction has evolved to allow students to better engage with the topics they're writing about.

While it does occupy a physical space, with panoramic vistas of the Atlanta skyline from the 24^th floor of Georgia State’s 25 Park Place building — inspiring views, to be sure — the Writing Studio is a group of writers, educators and students dedicated to helping members of the Georgia State community improve their command of the written language no matter the stage of the writing journey they’re in.

Established decades ago as more of a tutoring center, where members of the English Department faculty were expected to log hours wielding a red pen against pages handed over by earnest undergraduates, since the turn of the last century it’s adopted a salon-style approach, according to Distinguished University Professor of English Lynée Gaillet, changing its name from the Writing Center to the Writing Studio and onboarding tutors with a background and expertise in the research around writing instruction.

In addition to faculty, the Writing Studio’s tutors include graduate students versed in how people learn and how they learn to write. Instead of correcting faulty grammar, tutors focus more on helping students think about writing.

“We’ve moved beyond the red pen and, instead, students learn the best strategies,” says Gaillet, who has been a tutor in and director of the Writing Studio and oversaw it as former chair of the English Department. “The writer holds the pencil, and the tutor enters into a discussion. The focus is how to make meaning through writing, and how to discover meaning through writing.”

When a student engages a Writing Studio tutor, the initial conversation between tutor and student often surrounds the specific assignment the student is seeking guidance on.

What is the assigning professor asking for? Does the student have a clear understanding of the ask? Does the student have an initial plan of attack for completing the assignment?

Also open to faculty members, staff and alumni, the Writing Studio can even help equip professors to better communicate to their students. They need only to book an appointment through the studio’s online calendar and engage with a tutor themselves. It can be especially helpful in making sure a faculty member’s assignment is clearly laid out in a way their class understands.

“If you’re new to teaching, and you need help making sure instructions are clear and cohesive, we can help with that,” says Tyrell Collins, the associate director of research and community for the Writing Studio.

As student and tutor discuss the assignment, collaboration starts.

“The first part of writing is thinking about the assignment and getting students to understand what they’re supposed to be doing,” says Collins, who’s also a Ph.D. candidate in Rhetoric and Composition. “Then we emphasize brainstorming and drafting.”

Writing Studio clients can come to tutors with no more than just a simple idea to flesh out or as much as a finished dissertation to get feedback on. The work that follows isn’t about correcting grammar and punctuation, about word choice or syntax. It’s about tutors leaning on their training, their education and research background in composition, and collaborating with their students to elevate their skills and meet the demands of the assignment.

“Rather than editing, tutors will go through the whole process,” says Dylan Maroney, associate director of technology and finance for the Writing Studio and a second-year Ph.D. student in Rhetoric and Composition. “How do you cite sources correctly? Is the piece incorporating evidence and arguments appropriately? For dissertations, does it make sense to a non-expert? We’re in the business of making better writers.”

Whether students use the Writing Studio’s online calendar to book a virtual appointment or an in-person session with a tutor in the studio’s scenic perch above downtown Atlanta, they get to choose the tutor they believe best fits their needs.

After creating a profile at writingstudio.gsu.edu, students can peruse a list of more than two dozen profiles to find the right fit. If the tutor is available when the student is available, the student can book a 25-minute session once a week. Sessions for faculty, staff and alumni can be as long as 55 minutes.

The Writing Studio’s staff works to establish a welcoming space for those with different accessibility needs as well. According to Andrea Jurjević (B.A. ’04, M.F.A. ’14), who’s now the Writing Studio’s director and a senior lecturer for composition, literature and creative writing courses, the studio is in the process of integrating accessibility tools that can be requested during tutoring sessions. These tools can ease the challenges posed by visual and hearing impairments, neurodiversity related communication barriers, and learning disabilities such as dyslexia and dysgraphia.

Andrea Jurjević (B.A. ’04, M.F.A. ’14) directs the Writing Studio and is a senior lecturer for composition, literature and creative writing courses at Georgia State.

The Writing Studio is also expanding its outreach efforts, having started monthly workshops and special-topics discussions in the University Library with faculty and staff. Writing Studio staff also visit classrooms, upon request, to discuss the studio’s resources directly with groups of students.

But as much as students improve their writing through the studio’s tutoring, the tutors are gaining perhaps just as much.

With a staff of mostly master’s and Ph.D. candidates, the Writing Studio’s consultants are trained in instruction, have a deep passion for composition, and are knowledgeable in topics as varied as Ancient Greek tragedy, computer science, nursing and STEM studies.

“I started at the Writing Studio before I began teaching composition classes,” says Jurjević, who is also a poet, author and literary translator. “I think working in the studio helped me build confidence in the classroom. It was good for me, personally, for my own writing, and good for me as an instructor. In addition to providing support to writers, it also serves as a training ground and launchpad for many incoming graduate teaching assistants who teach first-year composition courses.”

One of those is Stephen Montgomery-Anderson, a Ph.D. candidate in English literary studies and a Writing Studio tutor in 2022 — and later a client.

As a first-year doctoral candidate, Montgomery-Anderson helped studio tutees hone their writing. The next summer, while taking online courses and completing an essay assignment, he booked a session with a Writing Studio tutor to get a fresh perspective on his own writing.

“I said, ‘Gosh, I need someone to take a look at this and make sure I haven’t lost my mind,’” he jokes. “I wanted someone to take a look and make sure the shape of the argument was good and that it progressed logically.”

He later worked with a Writing Studio tutor to help hone abstracts he used to apply to various conferences.

He says as a Writing Studio tutor, and now as a graduate teaching assistant for first-year English composition classes, he enjoys discussing writing with his students and learning about their interests, ideas and perspectives.

“It’s always really invigorating when you get an opportunity to talk about writing in depth,” he says. “And it’s neat to see what other people are interested in.”

Gaillet says first-year writing instruction has evolved to give students more control over their topics and their ideas, making them much more engaged with those ideas.

“And tutoring has evolved alongside those assignments to open the door for that two-way instruction,” says Gaillet, who maintains an office near the Writing Studio and from time to time still takes the time to work with students on their writing.

“A really good tutor is excited to learn from their students, because they’re writing about things the tutor doesn’t know anything about,” she says. “The tutor can say, ‘You teach me, and I’ll help you to shape the ideas.’”