The Writing Center at UNCG
Student Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Who can use the Writing Center, and for what?
Q: Why should I go the Writing Center?
Q: Where is the Writing Center, and when is it open?Q: How long does a conference take, and how often can I come in?
Q: Can I request a particular staff member?
Q: What should I bring?
Q: Can I drop off a paper and pick it up later? Or send it to you by email?
Q: Can one member of a group bring in a paper that the group has worked on together?
Q: Can you show me how to cite the sources I use in a paper?
Q: Can you help me with grammar?
Q: Will my instructor know that I have come to the Writing Center?
Q: To whom should I go if I have a complaint or a suggestion about the Writing Center?
Q: Who can use the Writing Center, and for what?
A: The Writing Center is open to the entire UNCG community: faculty, staff, and graduate and undergraduate students from any course (including those enrolled in Interlink, the joint MSW program with NCA&T, and any off-campus courses). The only exception to our “open-door policy” is that, unfortunately, we cannot help students who are writing papers in languages other than English. Most of our visitors bring in papers they are writing for courses, but we also help with personal writing such as application essays, cover letters, personal statements, and articles for publication. If a piece of writing is important to you, it’s important to us!
Q: Why should I go the Writing Center?
A: Because all writers deserve good readers. The Writing Center is a safe place to ask questions about writing and to try out your work on a friendly, responsive reader who will make suggestions and help you find answers to your questions. The extra time you spend on your writing in the Center will give you an edge, and will boost your confidence and your performance as a writer. (See What to Expect for more information about what goes on in a conference.) Besides, it’s free!
Q: Where is the Writing Center, and when is it open?
A: The Writing Center is located in 3211 MHRA Building (campus map), and is open during these hours:
Monday–Thursday: 9am – 8pm
Friday: 9am – 3pm
Sunday: 5pm – 8pm
The Online Writing Center is accessed by visiting the University
Writing Center website, www.uncg.edu/eng/writingcenter. Our Online Writing
Center, available for drop-ins or appointments, is available Monday-Thursday
10:00am - 7:00pm and Friday 10:00am – 2:00pm.
Return to questions
A: We schedule one appointment per hour; you can reserve a time by calling 334-3125 during working hours. However, we also have 3-5 staff members available at a time to see students who don’t have appointments, so you can also drop in whenever you decide you are ready. Towards the end of the semester, when the Writing Center gets extremely busy, it’s a good idea to make an appointment so you won’t have to wait.
Online Writing Center sessions are available by appointment or on a drop-in basis. Appointments for the OWC need to be made at least two days in advance of the appointment time. To make an OWC appointment, send an AOL IM to "Contact the OWC" during normal business hours. We'll check the available appointment times, then open a Whiteboard for you to post your paper. You must post your paper before the appointment can be made.
To have a drop-in OWC session, send an AOL IM to "Contact the OWC" any
time Monday-Thursday 10am-7pm or Friday 10-2pm. You'll chat with a friendly
consultant who will put you in line and open a Whiteboard in which you
can post your paper. Once your paper is posted, you can work with the
consultant for up to 45 minutes.
Q: How long does a conference take, and how often can I come in?
A: We limit conferences to one hour (30 minutes at particularly busy times), but up to that limit, the length of a session depends on the length of your paper and the questions that you have. You may come in as often as you like. We do limit students to two appointments a week (just one in a day), but you can drop in anytime.
A: The Writing Center Staff includes first-year teaching assistants (MFA and PhD students) from the English department, who also teach English composition courses; additional graduate students from English and other departments; and advanced undergraduates who take a course to prepare for their work in the Writing Center.
Sara Littlejohn, from the English department, is the Director of the Writing Center. The assistant director, Jennifer Whitaker, is also from the English department. Mary Beth Pennington, a third-year PhD student in English, is the Graduate Assistant Director.
Q: Can I request a particular staff member?
A: Sure, as long as that person is working at the time you want to come in.A: Bring as much information as you can about your assignment; bring your work-in-progress at any stage; bring your questions; bring your professor's email address and bring an open mind!
Q: Can I drop off a paper and pick it up later? Or send it to you by email?
A: Sorry, we don’t “fix” or work on your paper in your
absence. The Writing Center is all about conversation. Both you and your
consultant will be asking and answering questions -- reading your paper together
and engaging in a dialogue about what is working and what isn’t, looking
for solutions to problems, and exploring different options together. (See
What to Expect for more information about what goes on in a Writing Center
conference.)
If what you have in mind is just dropping your paper off to be proofread
by someone else, you should know that we don’t provide that service.
We’re happy to do some ‘supervised proofreading’—that
is, to help you recognize and learn how to correct persistent errors—but
you have to be here!
Q: Can one member of a group bring in a paper that the group has worked on together?
A: If different group members have written different parts of the paper, they all need to be here to ask and answer questions about their parts. (And yes, that includes proofreading; if there are errors to be found, the person who made them has to be here to correct them!)
Q: Can you show me how to cite the sources I use in a paper?
A: Yes. If you have kept track of all the necessary publication information, and if you know which system of documentation you want to use (MLA, APA, AMA, Turabian, to name a few), we will help you look up answers to your questions about citation of print and electronic sources. You can also find a lot of information about Help with Citing Sources by going to that link on our web site.
Q: Can you help me with grammar?
A: Yes. We always ask you what special concerns you have about a paper when
you bring it in, and if “grammar” is one of those concerns, then
we will help you find answers to your questions. And as readers, correct grammar
and usage are among the many things we look for in reading drafts of papers
with students. However, please keep in mind the following:
•
The Writing Center is not a proofreading service, and we don’t promise
instant results. Our job is to provide instruction (in the context of the writing
you have done) so that you gradually come to recognize and correct your own
errors—rather than having us fix them for you.
•
Every Writing Center session involves setting priorities and making choices
about what to emphasize. Sometimes grammatical concerns will be the major focus
of a conference, but often we will spend our time together on more “global” questions
(For example, Does this make sense? Can you follow the structure of my argument?
Do I need to explain this more?) and save the fine tuning and polishing for
another day and another draft.
• Related to this, the Online Writing Center is great for working on things like organization, paragraph structure, introductions and conclusions, or transitions. However, the Online Writing Center isn't the best resource for sentence-level issues, like lots of grammar and citation questions, since it takes longer to type than to speak. For work line-by-line on a paper, visit the face-to-face Writing Center in 3211 MHRA.
You may want to look at our Writing Resources for online grammar and punctuation
handouts and tutorials.
Q: Will my instructor know that I have come to the Writing Center?
A: Yes, if you want him or her to know, we will send either an email or a paper note. We like to send a brief summary of your conference to your instructor – not to evaluate you or your writing, but just to mention what you and your consultant discussed. (“Jim and I talked about ways to make his introduction into a clear roadmap for the rest of his paper. We also checked the APA manual to find out how to cite some of his sources.”) We send these notes because we know that most instructors are pleased and impressed to learn that a student was conscientious enough to spend extra time on his writing in the Center; however, if you would rather not have us send a note, we won’t.
Q: To whom should I go if I have a complaint or a suggestion about the Writing Center?
A: The Director of the Writing Center, Sara Littlejohn, would love to hear from you. If she’s not in the Center, look for her in her office down the hall (3330 MHRA), call her at 256-0483, or send email to sjlittle@uncg.edu.