Susan Lawrence

Professor

Writing center theory and practice, research methods, discourse analysis

Susan Lawrence is Director of George Mason University's Writing Center, which serves undergraduate and graduate students across the university. Her current projects focus on graduate student writers in the disciplines and examine the role of theory in empirical studies of writing.

Susan has taught courses in writing center theory and practice; research methods including ethnography and discourse analysis; professional writing; and rhetorics of reconciliation. She consults with professionals in government, business, and non-profit organizations about communicating with public and congressional audiences.

Selected Publications

Lawrence, Susan and Terry Myers Zawacki, editors. Re/Writing the Center: Pedagogies, Practices, and Partnerships to Support Graduate Students in the Writing Center. Utah State University Press. In press.

Lawrence, Susan and Terry Myers Zawacki, editors. Special issue of WLN: A Journal of Writing Center Scholarship, vol. 40, no. 2, March/April 2016. Special issue on writing center support for graduate student thesis and dissertation writers.

Lawrence, Susan. "The Intertextual Forging of Epideictic Discourse: Construals of Victims in the South Africa Truth and Reconciliation Commission Amnesty Hearings." Rhetoric in Detail: Discourse Analyses of Rhetorical Talk and Text, edited by Barbara Johnstone and Christopher Eisenhart, John Benjamins, 2008, pp. 113-40

Hayes, John R., Diana M. Bajzak, Susan Lawrence, and Erwin R. Steinberg. "Developing an Online Writing Tutor: The Interaction of Design Principles and Assessment." Blurring Boundaries: Developing Writers, Researchers and Teachers: A Tribute to William L. Smith, edited by Peggy O'Neill, Hampton Press, 2007, pp. 169-93

Flower, Linda, Susan Lawrence, and Desiree Cook, "Tracking a Literate Practice Across the Disciplines: The Rival Hypothesis Stance in Biology and History." Learning to Rival: A Literature Practice for Intercultural Inquiry, edited by Linda Flower, Elenore Long, and Lorraine Higgins, Lawrence Erlbaum, 2000, pp. 213-25

Courses Taught

CHSS 390: Tutoring Writing in the Disciplines

ENGH 302: Advanced Composition in the Disciplines

ENGH 386: Editing for Audience, Style, and Voice

ENGH 388: Professional and Technical Writing

ENGH 459: Internship in English

ENGH 501: Introduction to Graduate Studies in Professional Writing and Rhetoric

ENGH 502: Research Methods in Professional Writing & Rhetoric

ENGH 503: Theory and Practice of Editing

ENGH 611: Discourse Analysis

ENGH 611: Rhetorics of Accountability

ENGH 612: Cultures of Professional Writing

ENGH 797: Capstone Project in Professional Writing and Rhetoric

ENGH 822: Writing Center Theory and Practice

Education

PhD, Rhetoric, Carnegie Mellon University

MA, Literature, University of Wisconsin-Madison

BA, English and French, College of William and Mary