About ABC - Literacy Writing Center

Welcome . . . 

In the spring of 2007, Arkansas Baptist College launched a free student service resource center, The Arkansas Baptist College Literacy Writing Center dedicated to helping writers—and everyone is a writer—with different abilities to improve their skills at all stages of the writing process. We work with undergraduate students, graduate students, and people in the Little Rock community. We talk with writers about all parts of the writing process and about any kind of writing; however, we don’t do their writing for them. From brainstorming to drafting to revising and polishing, our goal is to help writers improve their writing for the long term.

The Arkansas Baptist College Literacy Writing Center (LWC) is a service center for students, faculty, and staff and serves as a resource for all types of writing projects. Our goal is to ensure that all ABC students are equipped with essential tools to become competent and self-confident writers in both their academics and their professional careers.

What we do . . . 

The LWC provides supplemental academic support to improve and enhance the reading and writing skills of Arkansas Baptist College students. The LWC staff assists writers who wish to improve his or her writing efforts through one-on-one conferences. A conference is an informal conversation about your writing with LWC staff. The LWC staff focuses on improving your understanding and the writing process as a whole, not just the paper that’s being discussed. LWC staff is available to discuss any ideas or concerns at any stage of the writing process or any of your writing.

We are . . . 

The Literacy Writing Center consists of students like you. They’ve had college writing experiences similar to yours and have learned to write using the writing process. They are not writing experts or teachers. They are interns because they want to help other people learn to use the writing process and are earning academic credit for helping other writers.

Kimberly Lockhart, Director of the Arkansas Baptist College Literacy Writing Center, oversees the center’s operations, strategic direction, and staffing.

We Won’t . . . 

• Take responsibility for any of your work.
• Proofread, correct, or edit your work.
• Type a paper for you.
• Grade your paper.

Where We Are.  . . 

The LWC is located in the Fine Arts Building. Operation hours are Monday through Friday, 8 am to 5 pm. Depending on the volume of students and program capacity, operation hours will be modified to accommodate evening class students and to conduct staff meeting to discuss LWC business. Come by the LWC and let us help you, or call 501-244-5115, or via email klockhart@arkansasbaptist.edu and make an appointment. We are here to serve you.

Literacy Initiatives

As part of the Arkansas Baptist College Literacy Initiative, the LWC has partners with neighboring educational institutions and a community adult education service agency. The objective is to build learning communities and increase literacy through diverse student academic learning. The LWC promotes literacy by recruiting and preparing students to engage in outreach research core exploration. Students are exposed to diverse cultures and educational environments. From this, students will read more and develop skills that help them articulate knowledge and skills effectively both orally and in written form. Students also serve as mentors to youth in the community school districts.

Internship in the ABC Literacy Writing Center

Why should you apply for this internship?
The Literacy Writing Center is made up of students just like you. They’ve had college writing experiences similar to yours and have learned to write using the process the college teaches. Even the greatest writers need a collaborative reader to provide them with feedback, and the Literacy Writing Center interns—from first-year college students to graduate students from outside the ABC community—provide this friendly audience. The Literacy Writing Center provides a comfortable place to write and promotes the use of resources in a community environment.

This internship is also appropriate if you want to explore opportunities in teaching writing or apply for graduate school.

Internship Work Schedule

The internship is managed differently than an academic class.

Before the semester begins, you must attend a pre-semester orientation to set up your work schedule. Once the semester begins, you are required to attend weekly Monday training meeting and work 5 personally scheduled hours each week in the Literacy Writing Center, Work hours are flexible and can be adapted to your schedule.

To successfully complete the internship, you must complete all scheduled hours and training assignment. The course begins the first day of class and ends the last day of class. (Interns do not work through final exam week.) The internship is graded like a regular course, with grades ranging from A to F.

Internship Credit

You will receive three hours of academic credit that count toward a major or that can be counted as a general elective. The internship can be taken for undergraduate credit. You may take up to six hours of internship credit toward a major; additional hours may be used as college-level electives.

Application Requirements

To enroll in the Literacy Writing Center Internship, you must satisfy the following requirements:

• You must have successfully completed a course in African American Leadership Institute. You will need a recommendation from your professor in this course.
• You must have a sincere desire to work collaboratively with writers. Interns are not academic tutors; they are collaborative readers.
• You must schedule an interview with the Literacy Writing Center Director, Kim Lockhart. During the interview, you will also receive and application and a recommendation form.
• You must not enroll until you complete the interview and submit your LWC Internship Application. After we receive your application and your recommendation from your teacher, you will be cleared by the Chief Academic Officer, Dr. Johnny Jones to enroll.
• Once you are approved to enroll, first-time interns must register for (AAL Community Internship) to receive three hours credit. Experienced interns may take the course for two or three hours credit by making arrangements with the Literacy Writing Center Director.

Please note: The course is available fall and spring semesters only. Download a LWC Internship Application to get started as an intern in the Arkansas Baptist College Literacy Writing Center.