Preparing for a visit to the Writing Center

It's best to make an appointment well in advance of a paper's due date. This gives you plenty of time to revise in response to your session with the tutor. You many also come before you have a draft.

What to bring:

• A copy of your assignment sheet and course syllabus.
• A copy of your paper draft, if you have one.

What to expect:

You'll probably spend time in your session ...

• Setting your own goals for the session. If possible, determine before your visit what your goals are. Do you want help with your thesis statement? Are you concerned with run-on sentences? Do you want to brainstorm ideas? Are particular parts of your paper not working? The more specific your requests for help, the more focused and productive your Writing Center session will be.
• Explaining to your tutor what you want to communicate in your paper. The tutor will ask questions to help clarify your thoughts and to determine the best way to express them.
• Describing what the assignment is and what your professor's expectations are. Bringing an assignment sheet and course syllabus to the session will facilitate this!
• Writing notes on your draft. Although the tutors will offer suggestions and feedback, it's up to you to decide which comments to use and which to ignore. Tutors may take some notes with their questions and suggestions, but you'll do the majority of the writing.
• Editing and correcting errors. Again, you'll be doing this with the help of the tutor. Tutors will notice patterns of error and teach you tools to correct them.
• Listening to the tutor's comments and suggestions about your paper. Tutors give you feedback on what seems successful and what might benefit from more work.