Beyond Academia: Writing Centers in the Workplace

This dissertation explores the gap between research related to academic writing centers and research related to workplace writing skills. Using the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s workplace writing center as a case study, two primary research questions are addressed: (1) What, exactly, has been the impact of the Federal Reserve’s Writing Center? What does success look like in this space, and how is that best measured and communicated? And (2) Why are workplace writing centers worthy of further study and investment? How can they benefit both the academic and nonacademic realms? Using a mixed-methods approach involving data log analysis, respondent surveys, and a pre-test/post-test quasiexperiment, this dissertation reveals that the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s workplace writing center has had a measurably positive impact on department writing quality. A portable and sustainable model is presented, suggesting that it can be implemented in a variety of other professional organizations; real-world examples of this already in progress are also provided. Further benefits of a workplace writing center are explored, including the democratization of the workplace and providing new career opportunities for writing center administrators and professionals.

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Author's note: This work has been published as a book, you may find it through your library. Title: Building a Workplace Writing Center (2022)