Hours

Appointments

What to Bring to a Writing Center Session

What Writing Center Consultants Do

What Writing Center Consultants Don’t Do

Writing Resources (Sweetland Writing Center, University of Michigan)

Citation Assistance

Do you have a big writing assignment that you don’t quite know how to approach? Are you having trouble choosing a topic or figuring out how to organize a type of project that you’ve never written before? Are you confused about how to revise once you have a draft written, or how to turn your notes into a paper that meets the assignment?

The Longwood University Writing Center can help!

The peer consultants who staff the Center will understand your questions and help you learn to handle your writing challenges. There is no charge for this service.

For best results, come into the Center as soon as you get the assignment.

Hours

The Writing Center is located in Room 154 in the Library. It is staffed by peer consultants in the afternoons and evenings on Sunday through Thursday during the hours noted below for fall and spring semesters.

The Writing Center will end services for the spring semester on April 27, 2008.

Appointments

Call the Learning Center (x2393 or x2050) to find out when a consultant will be available and reserve a time for your session.

Walk-ins are welcome during regular Writing Center hours, but students who have appointments have priority, always.

What to Bring to a Writing Center Session

• The assignment sheet, course syllabus, any other relevant instructions
• Your notes and source materials
• All work you’ve done on the paper up to that point – including earlier drafts if you’ve already made some revisions.
• Your laptop (not required, but strongly encouraged)
• An open mind and a goal for the session

What Writing Center Consultants Do

• Listen to writers and treat them with respect
• Work with writers at every level, from those who struggle with writing to those who write well but want to get informed feedback on their work
• Help writers organize their thoughts
• Talk with writers about their goals for writing and about what their readers expect
• Assist writers in planning: selecting and defining a topic, brainstorming, evaluating sources, and so on.
• Help writers learn to identify strengths and problems in their own writing
• Focus on writers and their writing skills rather than just on a particular paper
• Encourage writers to think about the processes involved in writing
• Provide writing resources and guidance in their use

What Writing Center Consultants Don’t Do

• Proofread a writer’s paper or comb it for grammatical errors
• Estimate a grade for a piece of writing
• Read a paper unless the writer is present
• “Look over” a paper for the first time just minutes before it is due
• Guarantee a particular grade on a paper
• Do the writer’s work
• Give a “stamp of approval”
• Help with a take-home exam without written permission from the instructor