The Academic Support Center proudly presents Awakenings, a student newsletter addressing Learning Center news and issues.
|
The Caldwell College Writing Lab is part of the Academic Support Center. It is located on the lower level of the Science Building. The majority of tutoring in the Writing Lab is performed by peer tutors who have been recommended for their writing abilities by other members of the faculty. The Writing Lab provides many services to Caldwell students, including peer tutoring with papers, computers for student use, and many informative worksheets dealing with writing problems.
Any Caldwell student is welcome to come into the Writing Lab and meet with one of our tutors. Are you curious as to what will actually happen when you come to the Writing Lab? If so, investigate How We Help You With Your Paper. This will give you insight into what you need to bring to a tutoring session, and what actually happens during a typical session.
Are you new to the tutoring experience? Are you a little nervous about how you should approach the session? Does it make you uncomfortable asking other people for help? If so, check out our Helpful Points To Remember regarding tutoring sessions. These points are sure to make your experience more fruitful.
Perhaps you have encountered a weakness in your writing and you want to practice the deficient skill. If so, check out our listing of online handouts courtesy of Perdue University's Online Writing Lab. Here, you will find over 25 links to individual online worksheets at the Purdue OWL website. Certainly, these resources will help you work on the weaknesses in your writing, and improve the quality of your papers. Also, we have provided a Sample Paper for you to review in order to see some writing techniques in use. This paper, while not of exceptional quality, may be valuable in helping demonstrate clarity, organization, and sentence structure. If you can't find the kind of assistance that you need here, try our list of links to other Online Writing Labs and see if these sites can help you. Our list contains the link and a brief subjective description.
Professional Tutors
Peer Tutors
|
THE WRITING LAB STAFF
The peer tutors of the Writing Lab are a wonderful resource for all students who have to write papers. While these tutors do not serve as proofreaders, they do help the students to improve their papers in many ways. Our tutors believe that paper revisions must be a two-person process. This philosophy leads to the practice of tutors reviewing student papers with the student who wrote the paper. This essential interaction prevents the tutee from being a passive participant, and, instead, leads to tangible results that the student can duplicate.
Peer tutors assist students with writing concerns on a drop-in basis 10 a.m. - 2 p.m., Monday - Friday. A professional tutor is available Monday through Friday from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m, Monday from 6 p.m. to 9p.m. and on Tuesday from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
HOW WE HELP YOU WITH YOUR PAPER
The tutors in the Writing Lab are always happy to help students improve their papers. Our tutors are trained to work in tandem with the students in order to help them bring their papers to a higher level. Please note that they are not proofreaders or replacements for spell check.
Things to bring with you to a tutoring session:
1. Yourself: You must be present for your tutoring session in order for an interaction to take place. Please be aware that a tutor will not review your paper if you are not present.
2. Your Paper: Please bring all drafts of your paper with you to your session, including the disk it is saved on if applicable.
3. Your Assignment: Your tutor may need to refer to the professor's original assignment in order to help you meet all of the requirements.
4. Your Materials: Often in the course of a paper, you will need to refer back to your sources to add more information to a weak part of a paper.
What happens during a typical tutoring session:
1. When you come to the Writing Lab, you will usually be paired
with one of our peer tutors.
2. If it is your first time in the Writing Lab, your name and other
information regarding the tutoring session will be recorded on an index
card. This card will serve as a record of the session, and will be kept
on file in the Academic Support Center in order to inform other tutors
of your strengths for subsequent meetings.
3. Depending on the individual tutor's style, you may be asked
to read your draft to the tutor, or the tutor may actually read the draft.
The tutor will then give insight into how you can improve your paper.
4. The tutor may ask you to demonstrate that you have grasped the
skill he or she was trying to illustrate.
5. The tutor may have other exercises to help you, depending on
his or her style.
6. You will leave the Writing Lab with an improved paper, and be
a better person for it!
10 HELPFUL POINTS TO REMEMBER
REGARDING TUTORING SESSIONS
Do you want to make your tutoring session as valuable as possible? If so, remember these important points:
1. Tutors are students too: There is no need to be nervous when meeting with your tutor. Remember that she or he is not a professor; instead your tutor is a student just like you who also struggles with papers sometimes.
2. The draft you bring to your session is a work in progress: No one expects you to bring a perfect paper to your tutoring session. Your draft will have flaws in it, and your tutor will help you improve it.
3. Take the tutor's suggestions seriously: Remember that your tutor is trying to help you, and his or her comments about your paper are designed to get your mind thinking about ways to improve your writing.
4. The tutor is not a proofreader: Don't be alarmed if your tutor does not correct every spelling mistake in your paper. This is the way it is supposed to work. Remember that your tutor's role is to motivate you to improve your writing by offering suggestions and solutions to larger issues that he or she sees in the paper. Proofreading is part of your responsibility.
5. It's OK to come to the Writing Lab with an incomplete draft: If you are having trouble with writing an introduction, a conclusion, or a particular section of your paper, feel free to drop in. Our tutors will help you work with your ideas, or help you formulate some ideas if you're really struck.
6. Try to meet with a tutor early: It is a good idea to meet with a tutor well in advance of the paper's due date. This allows adequate time for you to revise your paper. If you come in an hour before the paper is due, your revision time is severely limited.
7. Compose on a computer: Even if you do not have access to a computer at home or in the dorm, there are multiple locations on campus at which you can use a computer to write your draft. This will make your revision process easier, and your tutor may be able to use the computers in the Writing Lab for tutoring exercises in order to work on your draft.
8. Be ready to participate in the tutoring session: Try not to go to a tutoring session expecting a lecture. Your tutor is going to expect you to participate in the session. Remember that it is your paper; therefore, you must be ready to supply input when your tutor needs it. Our tutors are trained to operate in a two-person fashion, which means that your input is essential.
9. Be familiar with your paper: Read over your paper before your tutoring session. It will greatly benefit both you and your tutor if you are familiar with all the parts of your paper.
10. Keep an open mind: Your tutor may ask you to consider points or procedures that you may not have considered. Try not to dismiss these ideas without considering them first. Remember, your tutor has the same goal as you: to improve your writing.
If you keep these hints in mind when approaching a tutoring session in the Writing Lab, you will have a much more productive session. While each individual tutoring session is different, these general guidelines will help you prepare for this valuable experience.
SAMPLE PAPER
The following is a sample paper for you to examine. Please note that this is not an exceptionally well-done paper, but it does exhibit some of the techniques of good writing. Please be aware that attempts to pirate this paper will most likely be discovered by your professor, especially Caldwell College professors. It is likely that your professor has visited this site, and, therefore, will be familiar with this sample. Please use this sample paper as it is intended, i.e., a guide for preparing to write your own paper. Click here for the sample paper.