The Writing Center at UNCG
What to Expect
Here's what goes on in the Writing Center:
Whether you're visiting
the Writing Center or making an Online Writing Center appointment, a
writing consultant (either a graduate or advanced undergraduate student)
starts by asking you a lot of questions about your assignment, what you want
to accomplish in the paper, the work you have done on it so far, the due date,
and your concerns or questions. (By the way, it's a good idea to bring a copy
of the assignment sheet if your professor gave you one, or any notes you took
in class about it, as well as your professor's email address.) Answering these
questions often helps you to clarify your own goals and intentions for the
paper, and
helps
us to
know
what
to look
for
as we read the paper with you.
Then, in a face-to-face session, you or the consultant will read your paper (or whatever part of it you have brought in) aloud. You may be surprised at how much it helps to hear what you've written. You'll both be listening for ways of improving the paper--ways to make it say what you want it to say as clearly and effectively as possible--and you'll stop along the way to discuss possible changes.
In an online session, you will have posted your paper before the appointment time, so the consultant will have already had a chance to read through your paper. After you've talked about your concerns for the paper, you'll begin to discuss the paper in a secure chat format. You'll both be keeping an eye out for areas for improvement and discussing ways to articulate your ideas clearly and effectively.
The goal of a Writing Center conference is to make you feel ready and able to tackle the next step in writing or revising your paper, whatever that step may be. Sometimes there may just be a little polishing and proofreading left to be done; if so, we'll try to make sure you know how to do that. But sometimes a paper needs significant re-focusing or re-organizing; sometimes an argument needs to be reconsidered, or bolstered with more evidence, or stated more clearly; sometimes sources need to be identified more accurately, or individual sentences or paragraphs need to be written more clearly. The truth is that sometimes a paper needs attention to all of the above! Together, you and your consultant will sort out what you should work on first and whether or not you should come back to deal with other issues. That's why we strongly recommend that you allow plenty of time between your first Writing Center visit and the paper's due date.
One other thing: the Writing Center consultant is not a stand-in for your
professor. He or she is not in a position to anticipate or explain your instructor's
response to your writing, or to judge either the accuracy or the quality of
your paper's content. The consultant may suggest that you bring some
of your questions about a paper to the instructor who assigned and will be
grading it. But it's still worth coming to the Writing Center to clear
up what you can before turning in a paper. Think of your visit as a rehearsal
-- a way to work out a few bugs and gain confidence before the real audience
sees
your work!
We look forward to seeing you!