The value of a writing center at a medical university.

Background: Students often enter graduate healthcare/biomedical schools with insufficient undergraduate instruction in effective writing, yet the ability to write well affects their career opportunities in health care and in scientific research.

Purpose: The present study was conducted to determine the value and effectiveness of instruction by faculty with expertise in teaching writing at a writing center at an academic health science center.

Methods: Two separate sources of data were collected and analyzed.

Teaching professional writing in an academic health sciences center: the Writing Center model at the Medical University of South Carolina.

Background: Writing is taught as professional competency in higher education generally, but the health science education literature emphasizes writing as a pedagogical means rather than a professional end. The Medical University of South Carolina established a Writing Center in 1994 to teach professional writing.

Summary: This report describes the rationale for profession-specific, graduate-level writing instruction; summarizes the Writing Center model; and reports usage data.