Writing Center Timeline

A timeline of Writing Center History

1900-03-03 00:51:00

Writing Lab not seen as a place but a method

"the key characteristic of which appears to have been that all work was to be done during class time, enabling the instructor 'to eliminate errors or other weaknesses at their source and not allow their use at all, thus precluding the possibility of their becoming habitual through thoughtless repetition'."

1904-04-01 00:00:00

Philo Buck described a laboratory classroom

Buck, a St. Louis high school teacher, "had his students write together on topics of their own choosing while he himself spent time with each individually before having them read and critique one another's papers."

1913-01-03 06:17:06

Robert Moore born

Moore was born in St. Matthew's, Kentucky

1917-04-01 00:00:00

Francis Ingold Walker publishes an article

"describing a classroom at New Trier High School. . . with two days a week set aside for laboratory work

1920-03-03 00:51:00

The Writing Lab drifted from a method of instruction to a site

Tension emerged between the institutional space and the pedagogies enacted within that space

1921-03-03 00:51:00

The terms "remediation" and "Basic Writing" emerged

"becoming a popular designation in education journals. . . in response to an ever-increasing number of under-prepared lower class and immigrant students who began to enter the educational system at the turn of the century."

1929-04-01 00:00:00

Warren Horner publishes a Master's Thesis on the laboratory method

The thesis was an empirical study of West Virginia high schools which "found that students in the experimental group made small gains in rhetorical and grammatical proficiency but did so in half the instruction time dedicated to a control group of students taught in a recitational format."

1930-01-01 00:51:00

Colleges and Universities were beginning mass education initiatives

"Although the masses, despite much egalitarian rhetoric, were still largely defined as white males, children of immigrants and first-generation students began attending state institutions in large numbers. As a result, public institutions in 1922-34 equaled private schools in enrollment for the first time and surpassed them by the end of the decade."

1931-01-01 00:51:00

John Dewey became popular in education

Dewey emphasized "pragmatic education designed for the individual student"

1934-04-01 00:00:00

The University of Minnesota and the State University of Iowa established separate facilities for laboratory instruction

1934-05-03 06:17:06

Robert Moore Graduated with a B.A.

Moore graduated from Indiana University, after which he worked as a newspaper reporter in Louisville, Kentucky.

1937-09-03 06:17:06

Robert Moore returned to Indiana for his M.A.

His thesis was entitled Anthony Trollope's Treatment of the Novel

1938-09-03 06:17:06

Robert Moore came to Urban-Champaign for his Ph.D. in English

His dissertation entitled Victorian Religious Liberalism Revlected in Autobiography was finished in 1948.

1939-03-03 00:51:00

World War II

1940-04-01 00:00:00

The University of Illinois investigates

"the problem of improving students' use of English"

1940-04-01 00:00:00

W.G. Johnson publishes an article in the Illinois English Bulletin

saying that "the clinic does not supervise writing or provide tutoring." Instead, it diagnoses student writing.

1941-01-01 06:17:06

University of Illinois Survey Published

The survey "described the writing laboratory concept as 'one of the more popular methods' of teaching writing and that 'sometimes it is provided outside the composition course as a convenient place where students may write, under guidance, for any course'."

1942-01-01 00:51:00

Free-standing writing labs were a recognizable part of higher education

"The number of labs increased with the advent of Armed Forces English, on-campus programs for preparing officers for World War II."

1943-09-03 01:30:09

Robert Moore was an Instructor of English

Enter story info here

1944-01-01 00:51:00

Three articles are published in College English

describing "the Armed Forces' ambitious program to provide young officers with the equivalent of two years of training in English in just two semesters." This put a strain on English Departments.

1948-01-01 06:17:06

Robert Moore published in Illinois English Bulletin

Moore "described the Illinois Writing Clinic as student-centered," writing that "the counselling in the Writing Clinic attempts to be invariably friendly and sympathetic. To allow the student to feel stupid or unwelcome or badgered is fatal to the securing of the voluntary and persistent effort" (10).

1948-04-01 00:00:00

The Writing Clinic is revitalized

after being "allowed to lapse during the confusion of post-war expansion." Moore ran the Clinic as "a one-person operation open 10 hours per week."

1948-04-01 00:00:00

Charles Roberts announces in CCCC

that by Fall 1960 the University would discontinue offering Basic English

1948-09-03 01:30:09

Robert Moore was named Director of the Illinois Writing Clinic

Enter story info here

1949-09-03 01:30:09

Robert Moore was Chairman of Composition at George Washington University

Enter story info here

1949-09-03 01:30:09

Robert Moore was hired at George Washington University as Associate Professor

1950-01-01 00:00:00

Robert Moore's College English article

Robert Moore publishes an article in College English declaring that writing clincs are becoming increasingly popular as remedial agencies

1950-01-01 00:00:00

Robert Moore wrote Plan Before You Write

1950-01-01 00:51:00

Writing Centers were establishing themselves

as part of writing programs. There is much discussion of these writing labs up until 1955, when it drops off.

1950-01-01 00:51:00

Writing Labs start to be stigmatized as remedial

1950-03-03 00:51:00

The Rise of Linguistics

"providing a mechanism through which readers could go in search of a stable, independent meaning in each text," marking a return to scientific teachign

1954-03-03 00:51:00

Civil Rights Movement

1955-01-01 00:00:00

Moore wrote Effective Writing

Enter story info here

1964-03-03 00:51:00

Desegregation begins

Civil Rights Act of 1964

1968-04-01 00:00:00

A Writing Laboratory was created

to supplement the Writing Clinic by focusing on working with disadvantaged students admitted through the University's Student Educational Opportunities Program

1970-03-03 00:51:00

G.I Bill and Open Admissions begin

Enter story info here

1973-03-03 00:51:00

Bruffee supports Peer Tutoring

Because those who needed help saw tutoring by a professor as an extension of the work they already had to do

1978-03-03 00:51:00

Articles on writing labs focus on staff selection and training

1980-03-03 00:51:00

"Post Open-Admissions"

"National forums for writing centers have emerged, and influential figures--like Bruffee, Harris, and North--have appeared on the national scene, publicly hashing out, not merely reporting, issues of interest to a growing writing center community"

1980-04-01 00:00:00

The Writing Center Journal formed

Enter story info here

1982-03-03 00:51:00

James Lomuscio publishes an article in the Fairfield Fairpress

The article recounts a tale of a student who went to the writing center and got an idea for a paper. (Otherwise, the article emphasizes that WCs are for everyone and that students work WITH consultants)

1982-03-03 00:51:00

James Collins publishes an article in CCC

laying out the "rationale for a teacher traingin program set up to run through his writing lab"

1983-03-03 00:51:00

Harvey Kail publishes an article in College English

"More than either of North's pieces, it suggests the radical/dialogic/liberatory shift which marks much recent WC work. . . insist[ing] that peer tutoring be done 'right,' in a manner which by design complicates the teacher-student-director relationship."

1984-01-01 00:00:00

Steven North publishes "The Idea of a Writing Center"

North defines Moore's College English article as a "limited conception of what such places can do--the fix-it shop image

1984-12-31 00:00:00

Robert Moore died of cardiac arrest

1995-10-07 00:51:00

Christina Murphy and Joe Law publish Landmark Essays on Writing Centers

Murphy and Law say that Moore "typifies [a] conservative attitude, which views the writing center exclusively as a site for diagnosing and removing language deficiencies."

1997-03-03 00:51:00

Chirstina Murphy presents at the National Writing Centers Association

referring to a "bankruptcy of writing center scholarship."

2001-01-01 00:51:00

Robert Barnett and Jacob Blumner publish the Allyn and Bacon Guide to Writing Center Theory and Practice

Barnett and Blumner reiterate that Moore still "reverberate[s] in our field today"

Writing Center Timeline

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