“To integrate writing does not mean to set essays, but to teach how to make essays”. An interview with Hilda Quintana

Abstract

Writing is one of the first challenges students meet at the beginning of their career, and also one of the first frustrations. Teachers complain about students writing badly, but do not know how to help them; the students themselves are surprised at their mistakes, which often prevent their meeting the demands of their courses. On account of this, universities are increasingly integrating drafting as a part of the curriculum, not only to repair former omissions, but also to teach how to think and to promote reading, research and the development of individual thought. In Latin America, Professor Hilda Quintana was one of the pioneers in this teaching field of writing at University level, as well as the first person to create a Writing Center in order to support students and teachers in their creation of better academic works. Ms Quintana, who has a PhD in Compared Literature, holds the Chair for Spanish Language at the Interamerican University at Puerto Rico, where she also directs both the Multidisciplinary Center of Writing and the HQ of the UNESCO Chair for the Improvement of Reading and Writing. Ms Quintana came to the Catholic University of Uruguay to give a course on Centers of Writing and Writing at University level for teachers at the Faculty of Human Sciences. On that occasion she held the following interview with Dixit.