Writing Center

Serving West Chester University students, faculty, and staff, the writing center fosters critical literacy and thinking skills. We welcome writers at every stage of development, from diverse academic disciplines and cultural settings. Tutorials are available both in-person and online tutoring. The writing center also offers students workshops, classroom presentations, and faculty support.

What you can expect at the writing center:

• a free, 25- or 50-minute session with a trained and knowledgeable writing tutor
• a friendly environment offering one-to-one attention
• discussions about your ideas, writing strategies, strengths, and areas for improvement
• options for organizing your text; consideration of possible titles, introductions, and conclusions, your voice and tone; discussion of generic conventions for your assignment
• in the context of your draft, a review of rules for grammar, punctuation, syntax, and other aspects of correctness
• conversation about mechanical issues such as active and passive verbs, parallelism, predication, and transitions
• discussion of guidelines for using, citing, and documenting sources.

We encourage you to make use of the writing center as an antidote to procrastination. For example, you could make an appointment the same day you receive an assignment. Bring your assignments with you; we'll consider them with you.

Think of the writing center as a resource for generating text, revising, and getting feedback before papers are at the proofreading stage. It isn't intended to be a last-minute fix-it shop.

Even if you are hesitant, you should give the writing center a try. Many first-time users become regulars.

We are here for all people who need or want to write, at all levels of competence and interest. We look forward to working with you!

What we expect from students who come to the writing center:

• Show up on time for the session.
• Come prepared to do work. Note that you do not have to have a draft, but you do need to have a plan in mind for what you want to work on.
• The tutor will initiate goal-setting for the tutorial at the beginning of the tutorial. Please participate with your tutor in setting goals for the tutorial, and cooperate with the tutor in sticking to that plan.
• Your tutor needs to keep your tutorial to the time you have selected, either 25 minutes or 50 minutes. Please be respectful of your tutor’s professional duty to end the tutorial on time.
• Take ownership of your work. The tutor is a guide and a mentor, but they will not do the writing for you.
• Treat your tutor with courtesy and respect, just as you would treat any professional in a work or school setting.

We welcome your feedback on any aspect of the writing center's work. Please feel free to contact Margaret Ervin.