2022-2023 Brief Summary
This annual report includes data for Concordia University’s onsite Writing Studio and Online Writing Lab (OWL). Writing Studio data was collected between August 29, 2022 (opening day) and May 5, 2023 (closing day). Because the Online Writing Lab (OWL) runs year-around, data for OWL was collected from June 1, 2022 to May 31, 2023.
All Writing Studio activities were held in person this year, including pre-semester training, bi-monthly staff meetings, and one-on-one sessions with student-writers. We continued to host virtual writing workshops, since they allow both undergraduate and graduate students access to our workshop resources. We also continued to facilitate Zoom consultations for students in quarantine for COVID-19.
The Writing Studio and OWL together had 3,592 consultations/submissions with 1,692 clients. Additionally, the Writing Studio conducted twelve virtual writing workshops for graduate and undergraduate students on a variety of topics, including APA format, paragraphing, personal statements, integrating outside sources, and writing concisely. The Writing Studio saw a 2% increase in number of appointments this year; the OWL, however, saw an 19% decrease in number of submissions.
The slight increase in Writing Studio appointments reflects our efforts to improve our advertising on campus, continued faculty support, and partnership with the first-year composition instructors and science department faculty. The decrease in OWL submissions this year may reflect the limited time the Assistant Director had to promote OWL services during the spring semester when the Director was on sabbatical. It may also reflect smaller enrollment in certain graduate programs, as well as the need for more frequent reminders to the graduate faculty of our services for their students.
Writing Studio
Clientele continued to be diverse in terms of class standing, though differently from previous years. Last year, around 28% of clients were juniors or seniors, while this year, 20% were juniors or seniors. Compared to last year, however, the Writing Studio saw an 18% increase in number of freshmen clients and an 8% increase in number of sophomore clients. Overall, these numbers are encouraging since we strive to make our services useful for writers at all skill levels and across all disciplines.
Most Writing Studio consultations (49%) were about papers/projects out of the English, Writing, and Modern Languages Department, followed by the Hard Sciences (11%) and the School of Business (8%).
The Online Writing Lab (OWL)
As in previous years, the majority of OWL submissions (90%) came from graduate students. Around 8% of submissions came from undergraduates, who might have submitted to the OWL either because Writing Studio appointments were full, because Writing Studio appointment times did not work with the students’ schedules, or because they received an assignment from an online class.
Most OWL consultations were about papers/projects out of the Department of Education (52%), the MCAA/MSCE program (29%), and the Townsend Institute (13%).
For a more detailed report, download the 2022-2023 Annual Report.