What is the Writing Center?
At its most basic, the Writing Center is a place to come when you are working on a piece of writing and want feedback, help, or simply someone to listen to you talk through your thoughts. You can schedule an appointment with one of our consultants, who will serve as a sounding board for your ideas or a test audience for your draft, or you can just come, hang out, and get writing done.
Who is the Writing Center?
The Writing Center consists of three professional staff members and 16 student consultants from 10 different disciplines who are committed to:
- Approaching our work as a collaborative process. We value writers’ autonomy and decision-making, and encourage writers to make alterations to their drafts as they see fit.
- Creating an inclusive environment that welcomes students from diverse backgrounds, including those with different languages, learning styles, and levels of writing experience.
- Welcoming writing of any kind and in any form. Writers are encouraged to bring academic work for any discipline, but also non-academic writing and personal work. Writers may also bring work at any stage of the process.
- Promoting a culture of respect and kindness among consultants and writers.
How do we work?
We take appointments both in-person and online, but regardless of format, we try to keep the session focused on you and your needs. Here is some of what you can expect from a Writing Center appointment:
- We ask a lot of questions! We do this because we want to get to know you and your assignment so that we helpful to you as you work on your project.
- You will get to set the agenda. You’re the writer, so you’re in charge of telling us what you want to look at, think about, or revise. But it is OK if you don’t know – just wanting to improve your draft is a great place to start.
- We might read the draft out loud. If you are comfortable with it, we often read text out loud because it helps us and you experience the writing in a different way, and notice things about language and phrasing that we might otherwise miss. But there are other options!
- We aim to collaborate with you, not be your editor. So, we will offer suggestions, but we will also spend a lot of time helping you brainstorm, problem-solve, and decide on solutions of your own.
- We might not get to everything. We will likely end the appointment with suggestions for what you might keep working on.
- We can send an email to your professor if you want. Want to let your professor know that you’re putting in some extra work at the Writing Center? Let us know, and we’ll send a short summary at the end of the appointment.
To get the most from your Writing Center session, be sure to check out these tips.
Why visit the Writing Center?
There are a lot of reasons students decide to visit the Writing Center. Most students come looking for some sort of feedback on their drafts, but some simply want support and accountability as they work on drafting. For longer term projects, the Writing Center can also serve as a way to set and adhere to internal deadlines. Ultimately, students come to the Writing Center because we help them reach their goals.
Where is the Writing Center?
We are located on the first floor of Andrews Library, near the circulation desk.
What happens if I’m late for my appointment?
If you are 10 minutes late for your appointment and have not notified your consultant via telephone, email, or on your appointment form, your appointment will be canceled and your time may be given to another student.
When is the Writing Center open?
For Fall of 2024, our hours are:
Monday – Thursday: 9 a.m. – 9 p.m.
Friday: 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Sunday: 6 p.m. – 9 p.m.