Writing Center - Policies & Procedures

Making an Appointment:

You may schedule a thirty minute consultation by calling the Writing Center at x2303 or signing up on the schedule posted on the Writing Center door. In order to sign up on the door, write your name and phone number next to any of the open blue spots on the schedules posted on the door. Please do not sign up for a spot that someone has already signed up for, as one tutor will not be able to help two students simultaneously and preference will go to the student who signed up first. The Writing Center also accepts drop-ins; however, students who have signed up for appointments will receive preference. Appointments last only thirty minutes. If additional time is needed to work on your paper or you have more than one assignment, it is our policy that you must sign up for a second, nonconsecutive timeslot.

What to Bring With You:

Be sure to bring a copy of your paper to your consultation along with the assignment sheet if your professor has given you one. Also, have in mind a list of questions or concerns you have about your writing in order to make the best use of your appointment. If you do not want to print your paper out, the Writing Center has computers equipped to read papers brought on floppy disk, CD, email attachments, or jump drives.

What Happens in a Consultation:

One of our friendly tutors will welcome you to the Writing Center and go over your draft with you. After you and the tutor have reviewed your draft, the tutor will help you to realize what is working and what needs work in this piece of writing. He or she will then discuss strategies for strengthening weaknesses in the draft and in your future writing. Tutors focus first on major issues with the paper such as organization, thesis statements, etc. and secondly on minor issues such as grammatical errors. If you wish, you may set the agenda for the consultation yourself if you wish. For example, if your professor has suggested specific aspects of your writing that could use improvement, you can ask your tutor to key in on those areas.

Report Form Policies:

In a typical session, one of our tutors will ask you to fill out a form that asks for the name of your instructor and class. Following the consultation, the tutor will fill out the remainder of the report form, summarizing what happened in the session. You are given the option to have the form sent to your professor in order to let them know about your Writing Center appointment. It is up to you whether or not your professor receives this form, although most tutors recommend that you do have the form sent.

Dropped-Off Papers:

It is Writing Center policy that we do not accept dropped-off papers. The tutor must work with the student directly in an interactive process and therefore drop-offs are not accepted.

Take-Home Exams:

We will help a student with a take-home essay exam only with the permission of the instructor.