What is the Writing Lab?
The Writing Lab, once called the "writing center," is an instructional service and lab "space" that provides writing support to undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, and staff. We offer both face-to-face and online consultations, as well as workshops and events for Clemson writers.
The Writing Lab is supported by the Department of English. We are considered the "lab" for ENGL 1030 students. We are housed in Cooper Library.
Supporting Clemson Writers Since 1983!
Over 30 years in writing support.
The Writing Lab was established in 1983 as an initiative to support students in ENGL 1030 courses. As the Writing Lab grew, it provided writing feedback to students and staff across campus. Around 1995, the Writing Lab changed its name to "Writing Center," reflecting new conventions in the field of writing center studies. Now, we've returned to our original name and we continue the Writing Lab's legacy of supporting writers in the Clemson Family.
Guiding Statements
Vision Statement
The Clemson Writing Lab seeks to create a supportive and critical space for the confident expression of individual voice through writing by providing an adaptable, inclusive, and trusted environment for all writers to grow and learn.
Mission Statement
The Clemson Writing Lab aims to help students gain confidence in their writing, improve as communicators, and achieve their academic goals by providing high-quality, effective services in a supportive, inclusive environment.
Core Values
The Clemson Writing Lab's staff share a commitment to:
- Support student growth as they become more skillful, flexible writers.
- Cultivate and promote a thriving culture of writing on campus.
- Continually innovate our programs and services in a data-informed manner to meet the diverse needs of all Clemson writers.
The Clemson Writing Lab's professional staff share a commitment to:
- Provide high-quality training and mentoring to foster the student staff's personal, professional, and intellectual development as active global citizens.
- Maintain connection and relation to the greater writing lab community to stay current on research, trends, and innovations in the field.
- Continuous innovation in our programs and services through data-informed decision-making to meet the diverse needs of all Clemson writers.
Diversity Statement
As a part of the global community, the Clemson Writing Lab fosters diversity in all its dimensions and supports all writers in reaching their personal and professional goals. Writers, with their individual life stories, knowledges, identities, worldviews, languages, voices, and proficiencies, are respected and welcomed. We provide an environment conducive to diverse learning styles and forms of expression, and we respect writers' use of their home languages and World Englishes. We also seek to engage others in pursuing justice and remedying current and historical inequities in higher education. Our Lab embraces the humanity of all people, celebrating the contributions each individual makes to the Writing Lab, the Clemson Family, and the global community.
Land Acknowledgment
We acknowledge that the main campus of Clemson University occupies the traditional and ancestral land of the Cherokee People. Clemson’s main campus is built on land seized through US military and diplomatic incursions culminating in the Treaty of Dewitt’s Corner in 1777. This is also land on which people enslaved by the Pickens, Clemson, and Calhoun families lived and worked, and that was transformed into the campus of Clemson University through convict labor.
We make this acknowledgment to remember the histories of violence that anticipate our gathering here, to recognize Indigenous and Black claims to life and land, and to recenter those claims as we commit to better ways of caring for each other and for this land.
Along with this acknowledgment, we ask: what responsibilities and commitments can we make to foster more honest and generative relations with this land and with each other? Can we, wherever we go, acknowledge Indigenous claims to the land we occupy? Can learning about the lifeways and lifeworlds of the original and rightful caretakers of the land we occupy guide our own changing relation with the places we are and the communities that belong to those places? How can we share our learning with others?
The Constellate Strategic Plan
The Writing Lab's 10-year Plan
The May 2023 launch of the Writing Lab's strategic plan marks an exciting milestone in the Lab's development and growth. The plan, named "Constellate," represents a commitment to continuous improvement and the enhancement of writing support services for students and the broader campus community. The strategic plan provides a clear roadmap for the Writing Lab's future, outlining its mission, goals, and strategic priorities in support of Clemson's Elevate plan. The Constellate plan serves as a guiding document that aligns the Writing Lab's initiatives with its overarching vision to bolster a culture of writing at Clemson. The launch of the strategic plan is an opportunity to engage stakeholders, build partnerships, and foster a shared sense of purpose and direction. The plan signals the Writing Lab's dedication to delivering high-quality writing assistance, promoting academic success and positive student experience, and empowering writers at Clemson to achieve their fullest potential. To Elevate, we must Constellate.
Click here to read the Writing Lab's Constellate Strategic Plan.
