Resources
Writing Center
What is the Writing Center?
The Writing Center, located in Hibbard 605 , provides free writing consultation for students enrolled in English classes. The Center is open from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 9:00 a.m. to Noon on Friday (from September to May).
Starting Fall 2006, contact Dianne Lund about the Center's available tutoring hours.
Who is eligible for tutoring assistance?
Students are often referred by their instructors, but they are also encouraged to request writing help from the Center on their own. Students can request appointments for writing help by calling 836-2644 or using our walk-in hours for quick questions. Because tutors' schedules fill up quickly, students are urged to sign up for tutoring as early as possible in the semester.
What can students expect from the Writing Center?
Composition tutors understand the writing process and use that knowledge to guide students who come to them for help. A tutor is active and instrumental in many ways, but never in taking over a student's work. An effective tutor will facilitate students' work by providing careful guidance without being directive.
How are tutors selected?
Tutors come to work at the Writing Center through various interests. Some tutor for English credit, for service learning hours, or simply as an on-campus job. The Center considers recommendations from the prospective tutor's own English 110/112 instructor or from another professor familiar with the student's writing ability. Such a recommendation carries a high degree of confidence in the student's knowledge about writing and how s/he works with others.
Much of the tutor's job involves the following:
- Reading a student's work with a good sense of what makes a piece of writing effective
- Knowing how to ask questions of a writer that will help achieve the goals of the assignment
- Recognizing that a piece of writing is a dynamic work in progress
- Encouraging the student to re-enter a paper to improve upon it
- Resisting the temptation to control the process of the student's writing
The tutors expect the students to:
- Know what areas of writing they need help with
- Attend all scheduled sessions punctually
- Establish personal goals to work towards in the Writing Center
- Be willing to work hard at improving their writing
- Be respectful of the tutor and the help they give
Online Writing Labs (OWLs)
The following universities offer a variety of writing assistance online. These sites may also offer pages with links to even more OWLs and other online resources:
