About Us

The Writing Center's Mission and Goals

Our primary mission is to help MSU Denver students become stronger, more confident writers by developing healthy writing processes, metacognitive awareness, and a broad repertoire of writing strategies. Additionally, we work with MSU Denver faculty, alumni, and community members who want to become stronger writers.

Our Goals

• Welcome all MSU Denver writers at any stage in their writing process, in any discipline, composing in any genre; 
• Promote writing as a thinking tool; 
• Recognize language and writing as sites of institutionalized racism, patriarchy, and other forms of oppression;  
• Build students’ understanding of how they learn best; 
• Help writers develop transferable writing skills, including drafting, revising, editing, content development, and source use, through metacognitive reflection; 
• Help students understand and negotiate expectations for academic, professional, and disciplinary writing; 
• Foster understanding and acceptance of diverse identities, cultures, viewpoints, and linguistic backgrounds; 
• Support instructors in developing writing assignments that are informed by current writing theory and research and reflect an inclusive, anti-racist lens; 
• Encourage, support, sponsor, and participate in writing research; 
• Practice methods and strategies informed by current theory and research; and 
• Mentor undergraduate writing advisers and interns. 

Outcomes

Students who visit the Writing Center will

1. Demonstrate that they understand that writing is a process.
2. Use invention strategies as part of their writing process.
3. Recognize that every piece of writing has a purpose and an audience.
4. Make appropriate rhetorical choices about thesis, development, organization, and style by considering the purpose and audience of a piece of writing.
5. Demonstrate a growth mindset toward writing.
6. Use writing as a thinking tool as well as a communication tool.
7. Be able to use multiple revision strategies at various points in their writing process.
8. Use resources appropriately.
9. Advocate for the use of their own voice in writing assignments. 

The Singular They

Client Testimonial

Real Writing Center Experiences

“[…] You may remember assisting a rather unhappy faculty member who was distressed by comments and revisions on a doctoral proposal manuscript. I thought you would like an update on my progress. After meeting with you, I felt more confident in my abilities and was able to read the Reviewer comments with a less sensitive frame of mind. I made revisions as I thought needed and looked for the few small things you had pointed out. When I turned in the final manuscript I was more confident that I had done it right, and the feedback bore that out. I had very few minor revisions, and the reviewer even complimented me throughout the manuscript. At this time I am waiting for confirmation from my program that the final revisions were sufficient. Thank you!”   ~ Deborah A. Mathias MSN, RN