Library Services for Students

The Writing Center  

Located on the main floor of Sandor Teszler Library 

The Writing Center provides free peer tutoring on all aspects of writing, including generating ideas, determining audience and purpose, organizing ideas, providing evidence to support arguments, documenting sources, and editing for grammar, punctuation, and spelling.  Most of the papers we work with are from English classes, but we see written work from almost all fields, including education, art history, history, philosophy, religion, foreign languages, government, business, economics, math, psychology, sociology, theater, and graduate school essays.  The role of Writing Center tutors is not to proofread or “fix” papers before they’re turned in, but to respond thoughtfully to papers at any stage of the writing process and to help students improve their writing through discussion and instruction.

No appointment is necessary, but at certain times in the semester, the Center is quite busy, and students who bring in papers the night before they are due may find that the tutors can not give them the time they need.  Appointments can be made for long or particularly difficult papers by emailing Dr. Deno Trakas, the Director of the Writing Center.

The Writing Center is not open during the summer.

What We Expect from Students Using the Writing Center

• turn off cell phones
• don’t ask for proofreading
• bring your writing prompt or assignment
• be active and engaged; work on improving your writing skills
• have specific questions and an objective for your session
• remember that your paper is your responsibility, not the tutor’s
• don’t come in just before closing time
• try not to come in the night before a paper is due
• don’t ask for help on any one paper more than twice
• for papers over 10 pages, ask for a special appointment
• for other special needs, contact the director