The Center for Writing, like the College of the Holy Cross, is committed to excellence in teaching, learning, and research. By actively engaging in research and writing, we are able to more effectively teach both. Research about writing energizes us, allows us to contribute to the larger community of scholars, and keeps us up-to-date with best practices in the field.
Our research takes the form of studies in the Writer's Workshop, conference presentations, articles, book chapters, and more. Below is a selection of conference presentations and articles published by our undergraduate Writer's Workshop staff and Center for Writing directors and staff since the Center for Writing was founded in 2015.
Undergraduate Research (selected)
Presentations and Publications
Barton, Jack. "The Labor of (Non)Directive Tutoring." Northeast Writing Centers Association 2017 Conference, Pace University, Pleasantville, NY, March 2017.
Corey, Patricia. "Confidence in the Writing Center: How do we make students feel valued, included, and esteemed as knowledge producers?" Northeast Writing Centers Association 2018 Conference, College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA, March 2018.
Hildreth, Lucas. "Implementing Adaptable Techniques in the Writing Center." Northeast Writing Centers Association 2018 Conference, College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA, March 2018.
Kulp, Emily. "Voices of Engagement: The Roles Writing Centers Play in Making Writing Meaningful." Northeast Writing Center Association 2019 Conference, Western Connecticut State University, Danbury, CT, March 2019.
Loeber, Campbell. "A Method to Matching: A Study on Student/Tutor Compatibility." Northeast Writing Centers Association 2017 Conference, Pace University, Pleasantville, NY, March 2017.
Mahoney, Elizabeth and Erin Sands. "The Effectiveness of Writing Sessions Based on the Interpersonal Relationship of the Consultant and Consultee at a Small, Liberal Arts College." Northeast Writing Centers Association 2023 Conference, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, April 2023.
Van Galen, Peter, Patricia Corey, Emma O'Leary, and Marissa Corey. "Confidence in the Writing Center." Northeast Writing Centers Association 2016 Conference, Keene State University, Keene, NH, March 2016.
Academic Conference 2023
We are proud to highlight the academic research of our undergraduate Writer's Workshop staff. The following students presented during last year's Holy Cross Academic Conference. In addition to their many responsibilities as consultants in the Writer's Workshop, our students excel within their areas of study. Disciplines include Chemistry, Africana Studies, History, Education and more.
Bromage, Grace J. “Women’s Bodily Autonomy and the Dystopian Mode.”
Choi, Joshua. “A Stereoselective Approach to the Synthesis of Protected 1,3-Diols.”
Davis, Jamil. “Reinvest in US: Re-imagining the Role of Police in the US.”
Fisher, Brianna. “Rhythm and Verse: Reimagining the Massachusetts K-12 English Language Arts Curriculum.”
Fisher, Brianna. “The ‘Good’ Teacher.”
Moore, Arianna and Jamil Davis. "Examining Youth Curation of Middle School Classroom Libraries."
Ochmann, Tori. “When the Student Becomes the Teacher: A Lesson Plan for Surviving the Switch.”
Zandi, Ariana. “‘Dizzy Old Wizard’ vs. ‘Sportsman and Hunter’: U.S. Press Views of Iranian Leadership During the Cold War.”
Directors' and Staff Research
Publications (selected)
Britt-Smith, Laurie A. "Bridging Academic and Workplace Writing: Insights from Employers." Writing Beyond the University: Preparing Lifelong Learners for Lifewide Writing, edited by Julia Bleakney, Jessie L. Moore, and Paula Rosinski, Elon, NC: Elon University Center for Engaged Learning, 2022.
Britt-Smith, Laurie A. "Why Does Grammar Matter?" The Conversation. 11 Jan. 2021.
Britt-Smith, Laurie A. "Exploring the Borderlands: Using Interdisciplinarity to Build Civic Literacy at the College of the Holy Cross." Redesigning Liberal Education: Innovative Design for a Twenty-First-Century Undergraduate Education, edited by William Moner, Phillip Motley, and Rebecca Pope-Ruark, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2020, pp. 85-97.
Britt-Smith, Laurie A. "Transforming Eloquentia Perfecta for the 21st Century." Connections, Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities, 2019.
Britt-Smith, Laurie A. "Not So Easily Dismissed: The Intellectual Influences and Rhetorical Voice of Dorothy Day--'Servant of God.'" Remembering Women Differently: Refiguring Rhetorical Work, edited by Lynee Lewis Gaillet and Helen Gaillet Bailey. South Carolina University Press, 2019, pp. 206-221.
Britt-Smith, Laurie A. "Eloquentia Perfecta in the Time of Tweets." Conversations on Jesuit Higher Education, vol. 52, 2017, pp. 14-15.
Britt-Smith, Laurie A. Review -- Traditions of Eloquence--The Jesuits and Modern Rhetorical Studies. Conversations on Jesuit Higher Education, vol. 51, 2017, pp. 50-51.
Hill-Vasquez, Heather and Laurie A. Britt-Smith. "Do We Really Want the Flies We Might Catch? Interrogating 'Post-Feminist' Lessons for Success." Surviving Sexism in Academia: Strategies for Feminist Leadership, edited by Kristi Cole and Holly Hassel. Routledge, 2017, pp.38-45.
Morrison, Gabriel. “Subverting Elitism with Equitable Assessment at a New England SLAC” (with N. Claire Jackson, Gabriel Morrison, and Hayley C. Stefan). Writing Assessment at Small Liberal Arts Colleges. Genie Giaimo and Megan O’Neill, eds. Forthcoming.
Morrison, Gabriel. “Racism in the Margins” (with Kathleen Tonry). WPA: Writing Program Administration 44:1 (Summer 2021).
Morrison, Gabriel. “Instructor Experiences of a Professional Development Institute in Multimodal Composition.” Multimodal Composition: Faculty Development Programs and Institutional Change. Shyam B. Pandey and Santosh Khadka, eds. Routledge, 2021.
Morrison, Gabriel. “The Cost of Ambiguity: How Students Experience the Graduate Seminar Paper Genre.” Co-authored with Tom Deans. Reimagining the Graduate Seminar Essay in Literary Studies. Kevin Morrison, ed. Rowman and Littlefield, 2021.
Presentations (selected)
Britt-Smith, Laurie A. "Jousting at the Intersection of Sports, Social Justice, and Spirituality: The Rhetorical Crisis of Being 21st Century 'Crusaders.'" Rhetoric and Religion in the Twenty-First Century: Publics, Partnerships, Possibilities, Knoxville, TN, October 2018.
Britt-Smith, Laurie A. "Educating for Eloquentia Perfecta." Conference on College Composition & Communication, Kansas City, MO, March 2018.
Britt-Smith, Laurie A. "Remembering Differently: Re-Figuring Women's Rhetorical Work." Feminisms and Rhetorics Conference, University of Dayton, Dayton, OH, November 2017.
Britt-Smith, Laurie A. "Civic Engagement and WAC/WID: Using Disciplinary Differences to Cultivate Civic Literacy in a First-Year Experience Program." Conference on College Composition & Communication, Portland, OR, March 2017.
Britt-Smith, Laurie A. "Civic Engagement and WAC/WID: Using Disciplinary Differences to Build Civic Literacy." International Writing Across the Curriculum Conference. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, June 2016.
Morrison, Gabriel. “Centering Multimodality: Changing Beliefs About Writing in Writing Centers.” National Conference on Peer Tutoring in Writing, Omaha, NE, October 2022.
Morrison, Gabriel. “Writing Across Technology: Confronting the Challenges of Faculty Development in Multimodal Composition.” International Writing Across the Curriculum Conference, online, August 2021.
Morrison, Gabriel. “Cultivating Community in Virtual Graduate Writing Retreats.” Global Society of Online Literacy Educators Annual Conference, online, January 2021.
Morrison, Gabriel. “Rewriting Roles in Social Work: Rhetorical Conflicts Across Educational and Professional Contexts” (with Lauren Griffith). Quinnipiac University’s 7th Biennial Critical Thinking and Writing Conference, Hamden, CT, June 2019.
Morrison, Gabriel. “Bolder Racisms: Citizenship, Literacy, and Economics” (with Kathleen Tonry). International Writing Centers Associations Conference, Atlanta, GA, October 2018.
Norman, Anna-Lisa. "Native American Rhetoric and Its Relation to Storytelling in the Writing Center." Northeast Writing Centers Association 2023 Conference, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, April 2023.
Grants and Awards
Undergraduate Grants and Awards
Barton, Jack. 2017 Ignite Grant Recipient, for independent research to be presented at the Northeast Writing Centers Association annual conference.
Loeber, Campbell. 2017 Ignite Grant Recipient, for independent research to be presented at the Northeast Writing Centers Association annual conference.
Honor Society Inductees '23
We are pleased to highlight the academic achievements of our undergraduate Writer's Workshop staff at the 2023 Academic Conference, specifically the following honor society inductees:
Cloghessy, Ava and Seton O'Scannlain. Political Science National Honor Society (Eta Gamma Chapter/ Pi Sigma Alpha.)
Daoud, Christina and Nilda Deleon. National Honor Society in Psychology (Psi Chi.)
Mahoney, Elizabeth. English Honors Society (Sigma Tau Delta.)