One of the key strands of our work is to train students to work individually as writing mentors with fellow students on all aspects of the academic writing process. Our work supports the view that engaging students in constructive conversation about their ideas and about their writing process can lead to better thinking and better writing. Peer mentoring in academic writing underpins other types of writing support offered by academic departments, writing experts and learning development centres. It is based on the belief that fellow students, who are peer collaborators rather than teachers, can provide an effective alternative and empowering approach. 

This guide gives a brief overview of our experiences with and research on running writing mentor schemes at our institutions.

We hope it will be of interest to other universities which are trying to find effective ways to improve their provision in writing instruction and which are concerned with issues of retention and student success.
 

Click here to download a PDF of the Write Now CETL guide on 'Using student writing mentors to develop academic writing'. [Guide will be added in March]