FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What should I expect from a writing conference?

The best beginning to a conference is when you, the writer, have some idea of the kind of help you would like. The Writing Assistant will ask how you would like to focus the session. He or she may also ask to hear about the assignment, or any comments you have received on your writing from your professor. Usually the Assistant will then spend 5-15 minutes reading the parts of the draft that you have both agreed to focus on. The Writing Assistant will then discuss your writing with you, which will frequently involve asking you more questions about your ideas and getting you to talk through problems arising in the draft.

If you haven't yet written anything, the Writing Assistant will help you brainstorm and organize ideas.

Come prepared to take lots of notes. You will spend the last part of the session developing a plan for further writing and revision.

Is the Writing Centre only offering remedial or tuition services for weak students?

No. We believe that everyone can benefit from getting feedback on the difficult (but rewarding) process of writing. We work with a range of students, from those who need help with sentence-level problems, to those who have written polished papers with solid arguments that they nevertheless want to further refine.

Is the Writing Centre a copy-editing service?

We think that we can be of most help if we are focusing on higher-level concerns in essay-writing, such as formulating arguments and working with evidence. If your essay has sentence-level problems (with grammar, expression, or word usage, for example), Writing Assistants can help you identify these problems for yourself and figure out ways to resolve them, or point you to resources. However, a Writing Assistant will not offer to go through your essay line-by-line and edit it for you.

Can you match me with a Writing Assistant who knows about my topic, or who has taken the same class?

Rather than offer the discipline-based help you can get from your professors, Writing Assistants help you learn to articulate your ideas to a non-specialist reader. In general, the Writing Centre does not match you with a reader according to your paper topic; no matter what the subject matter, our Assistants serve as sounding boards, careful readers, and helpful critics.

Can the Writing Assistant read my paper before the appointment?

The Writing Centre does not accept papers in advance of appointments for two main reasons. First, we believe that you will become a better reader and reviser of your own work through the experience of articulating your writing concerns to the Assistant. Your Writing Assistant can combine an understanding of those concerns with the perspective of a reader coming fresh to your paper, and then use both to help you think about possibilities for revision. Second, asking our Writing Assistants to read all student papers beforehand would require many extra hours on their part and thus reduce the amount of time they have available to meet with students. If the Writing Centre read papers in advance, we wouldn't be able to serve as many people.

Can I consult with a Writing Assistant over the phone? Or online?

We do not offer either phone or online consultations, for the same reasons that we do not have Writing Assistants read papers in advance (see above). A writing conference works best when you are interacting with a Writing Assistant, and you can have a face-to-face dialogue about ideas and writing strategies. This would not be possible during a phone or online conference.

How often can I visit the Writing Centre?

You may visit the Writing Centre any time you have a writing assignment for a USP module. In order to ensure that as many students as possible can use the Writing Centre, however, you may visit only two times per assignment.

Will the Writing Centre read my papers for non-USP modules?

Since the Writing Centre is designed to support writing in Scholars Programme modules only, we cannot read papers written for modules outside the Programme. However, we hope that the skills you learn from the USP and from your Writing Centre conferences will give you the ability to become your own best reader for other assignments.

What does it mean to make an appointment?

When you make an appointment, you sign up for a scheduled conference and make a commitment to meet with one of our Writing Assistants. This means that a Writing Assistant will be on hand and ready to work with you for a period of up to 50 minutes.

Do I have to make an appointment? Can I just drop in when the Centre is open?

You are welcome to drop in during our hours of operation. Writing Assistants, however, will work with drop-ins on a first-come, first-served basis. Furthermore, if someone has made an appointment for the slot, he or she will have first priority in working with the Writing Assistant.

What if I can't make my conference time?

If you cannot keep an appointment you have made, you should log back on to the online scheduling system to cancel your appointment, at least 24 hours in advance, so that the slot can be made available to someone else. If you do not show such courtesy and consideration, your conference is counted as a no-show. Students with a history of no-shows may have their access to the Writing Centre reduced or suspended.