Requesting a Learning Center Session for Your Class

Call Rebecca Sturgill (x2050) to arrange Learning Center sessions on a variety of topics. Sessions can be scheduled in your classroom or you may bring your class to the Learning Center in Greenwood Library.

Information About Academic Advising

Part art, part science, academic advising is an important dimension of teaching:

• The Mentor: An Academic Advising Journal
• National Academic Advising Association (NACADA)

Information About Freshmen and Other Students in Transition

Resources for the unique challenges presented by students at transition points:

• National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition

Responding to Student Papers

A collection of useful information on working with students’ writing: responding, evaluating, improving, and handling the paper load:

• University of Texas Undergraduate Writing Center

Answers to Just About Any Question About Using Writing in a Course

Everything from designing and sequencing assignments to examples of writing-intensive syllabi in a variety of fields and handling plagiarism:

• University of Hawaii at Manoa, Faculty Resources

Helping Your Students Make Effective Use of the Writing Center

• Remind your students about the resources and support available at the Writing Center each time you make a writing assignment. Ask them to take the assignment sheet along with them when they go to any Writing Center appointment.
• Encourage your students to go to the Writing Center as early in the process of preparing a written assignment as possible (e.g., while defining a topic, gathering information, or preparing to draft the paper), rather than waiting until the paper is finished. Then encourage them to return as they progress.
• Request a classroom presentation by Writing Center consultants. Presentations can be customized to focus on a specific assignment, given sufficient lead time. Call the Learning Center at x2o50 or x2393 to make arrangements.
• Avoid requiring anyone to consult the Writing Center. Students who are compelled to go tend to get very little out of the experience. Instead, suggest it as an option that can provide the kinds of feedback that all writers – regardless of proficiency level – need when they’re doing the difficult work of writing.
• Clarify for students that the Writing Center is not an editing or proofreading service; its primary goal is their development as writers, not the polishing of a particular paper. Students should not expect to drop off a paper and pick it up later, or to drop by the Center an hour before the paper is due and request that a consultant “clean it up” or “check it over.” Instead, they should expect to talk about their writing, try out new strategies, and learn ways of evaluating and improving their own work.