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Mission Statement and Policies

our Mission Statement

The Jill and Marvin Willis Center for Writing maintains a strong commitment to the excellence of all UGA students. We understand that writing is critical to excellence both in the classroom and in the professional future of each student we encounter, regardless of academic interests. We seek to assist students in understanding the writing process, elaborating on their ideas and theories, and evaluating and editing their own work.

General Policies

  • All students (undergraduate and graduate) may make up to two appointments a week with the The Jill and Marvin Willis Center for Writing
  • Writers must upload their work to our website when they schedule their appointment. If they do not, their appointment may be canceled. (They will be welcome to reschedule.) Word documents are greatly preferred.
  • Appointments can be made by currently enrolled students (or recent graduates), faculty, and staff. No one may schedule appointments for other people or attend sessions with other people's writing.
  • Please note consultants will not proofread or edit papers. Consultants are happy to work with writers to improve proofreading and editing skills, but this process involves the writer asking questions and actively learning with the consultant.
  • Consultants can reliably provide high-quality sentence-level feedback on up to five pages (~1250 words) of graduate-level writing during one appointment. Writers who request this type of support and submit longer pieces should indicate which sections they would like their consultant to focus on. 
  • The Jill and Marvin Willis Center for Writing consultants cannot guess (or critique) a letter grade for writing brought into the Center. We ask that our visitors please remember this and not ask consultants to say what grade they believe a piece of writing should earn.
  • Students are allowed to have only one Writing Center account.
  • If a student is caught breaking any Jill and Marvin Willis Center for Writing rule, the student may face the loss of Writing Center privileges.

Professional Boundaries Policies

We would like to request your compliance with two requests that help us maintain professional boundaries in our work with you: 

  • No Gift/Tip Policy: Our writing center staff members will not accept any kind of gift or tip for their services. While we appreciate your gratitude, we find it inappropriate, since providing feedback on your writing is our job. UGA writers: please respect our professional boundaries by not offering gifts. Instead, thanking us and letting us know about your successes with writing during our scheduled sessions is welcome.
  • Privacy Policy: Our writing center staff is prohibited from responding to personal emails from writing center clientele outside of their scheduled appointment time or outside of technical difficulties related to online sessions. Since our consultants are very busy and are only compensated for work during their writing center schedules, we ask that writers do not contact them via their personal email addresses. Instead, please reach out to our general address at writingcenter@uga.edu. If you have a message for a consultant, please send it to the address above and we can make sure your consultant gets your message.

AI Position and POlicIes

The Jill and Marvin Willis Center for Writing (WCW) acknowledges the percolated rise in the artificial intelligence generative tools use and their pedagogical and tutoring affordances.[1] Further, the use of text generating software is constantly reshaping what it means to write and to teach writing in college. Therefore, the Willis Center for Writing will abide by the policies below:

  • Writing consultants will engage with AI during tutoring sessions ONLY when its use is initiated by the writer. Otherwise, our writing center staff will not introduce the use of AI software into the session. Further, when students introduce the use of AI, we will inquire as to the course/instructor policy on the use of AI and encourage writers to abide by course policy. When course policy allows for the use of AI, we will encourage ethical and effective use of AI in support of writing.  For more details, the Writing Center recommends tutors follow the ChatGPT Guidance for Instructors document curated by the UGA's Center of Teaching and Learning to acquaint themselves with possible tutoring scenarios. 
  • The WCW prohibits all consultants from generating feedback using AI tools. Violation of this policy may result in immediate termination of employment. Currently, no research promotes AI-generated feedback as superior to human- generated feedback, especially dealing with rhetorical strategies of academic writing. Rather, there is the opposite claim. Further, all work generated by writers will be respected as their own intellectual property. Use of AI technology to generate feedback in any way, without their permission or knowledge, violates this respect as well as their right to ownership over their own. writing.
  • The WCW staff will engage in general discussions about AI technology and its ethical use with writers interested in learning how to use the tool, so long as: (a) doing so does not violate a course policy to the best of our knowledge, and (b) writers are transparent about their AI use. Writers are responsible for being open and honest about course assignments and instructor policies. Therefore, we will not accept responsibility for writers’ decisions to use AI technologies unethically. We will to the best of our knowledge follow course policies while also educating writers about the benefits as well as the drawbacks to using AI. Two sources with which we are familiar regarding ethical AI use are: Deans et al. AI in the Writing Center and APA’s How to Cite Chat GPT.  

We recognize these policies are prone to continual upgradation. If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to our director, Rebecca Hallman Martini directly at Rebecca.hallmanmartini@uga.edu.


[1] Writing Studies professional organizations such as the Conference on College Composition and Communication, the Modern Language Association of America, the Association for Writing Across the Curriculum, and the TESOL International  have informed this statement. 

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