When and how often can I use the Writing Center?
Come in when you have a paper topic, a draft, an idea, or even simply want to chat about your topics or paper-writing anxieties. You may come in at any stage of the writing process—as often as you like. We only ask that you reserve enough time before your essay is due to make a writing conference useful.
What should I expect when I come in for a writing conference?
Expect your tutor to support you in your writing project. The tutor will begin by asking you to fill in a conference session report with your basic class information. The tutor will then ask you how you would like to focus the session and what kind of help you would like. If appropriate, he or she will ask to see the assignment. It may also be helpful to hear about or read any comments you have received on the assignment or your writing from your professor(s) in order to address previously identified issues in your writing.
Usually the tutor will spend 5-15 minutes reading (or ask you to read) the parts of the draft that you have both agreed to focus on. Typically, a tutor can focus on no more than 5 pages a session; for longer papers, tutors may suggest a follow-up conference.
The tutor will then discuss your writing with you, which may involve identifying problems with grammar, style, organization or clarity but which will frequently involve asking you more questions about your ideas and getting you to talk through problems or discoveries arising in the draft. If you haven't yet written anything, the tutor will help you brainstorm ideas by asking questions and then help you to organize your best ones. The two of you will typically spend the last part of the session developing a plan for further writing and revision.
Can the Writing Center help me with grammar and clarity issues on a take-home exam?
We will assume that we cannot help with exams, unless the instructor has notified us directly. If you plan to consult a Writing Center tutor about a take-home exam, you must gain written permission from your instructor and bring it to the conference. The tutors cannot help you with the content of your exam. If an instructor has explicitly forbidden the use of the Writing Center on an assignment, the tutors are obligated to comply with that request.
Do you offer help with challenging reading assignments?
Tutors can offer some guidance for reading strategies. They can work through a difficult passage with you and give you some suggestions for note-taking and responding actively to the text as you read. They can also help you clarify your response to readings.
Can you help with questions regarding citation format, proper uses of citation, identifying and avoiding unauthorized help or plagiarism?
Yes. Tutors can help identify passages in need of citation and provide some guidelines for using APA and MLA citation formats.
Can you match me with a tutor who knows about my topic?
Rather than offer the discipline-based help you can and should get from your professors or advisers, Writing Center tutors help you learn to articulate your ideas to a non-specialist reader. In general, the Writing Center does not match you with a tutor according to your paper topic; no matter what the subject matter, our tutors serve as sounding boards, careful readers, and helpful critics.
Can the tutor read my paper before the appointment?
The Writing Center cannot accept papers in advance of appointments. The sessions depend on a lively, interactive exchange between peers. The Tutor can only help if you collaborate and help guide him or her through your writing process, articulating your concerns and responding to questions as they arise. Learning to write well for an audience—your professor, your peers, your public—requires some practice interacting with one.
Can I just drop off a paper for proofreading?
No. The Writing Center is not a grading, proofreading, or editing service; rather, the tutors will work collaboratively with writers to help identify and diagnose grammar or organizational errors and to suggest ways to resolve them. The goal of each tutoring session is to develop writing strategies that will empower writers to become sensitive to the various academic and professional standards and audiences of their writing. |
