Tired of not getting the grades you want on papers? Sick of the same old red marks on your essays? Then, come and use the rich and varied resources of the Writing Center and become a better and more proficient writer! Our goal is to assist you as you acquire greater skill in grammar, punctuation, and writing.

Our Requests:

• If you have a working draft of an essay, please read and edit your draft before bringing it.
• Please bring a draft that is either typed or neatly written, preferably double-spaced.
• Please decide in advance exactly what you need help with -- grammar, punctuation, thesis statement, etc. -- and allow sufficient time to work on that concern.
• Be sure to allow yourself time for revison. Waiting until the last minute to bring your essay to us will only frustrate you.
• If you have only a few minutes, please come prepared with a few specific questions; we cannot review an entire essay without adequate time.
• BE PATIENT. Since we work on a first-come-first-served basis, you may have to wait while we work with other students.

What We Can Do:

• Help you understand your writing assignments
• Help you understand a thesis
• Help you become a competent proofreader of your own work
• Discuss your paper with you during the prewriting stage
• Help you organize your paper
• Brainstorm so that you can choose a paper topic or discuss an already chosen paper topic
• Help you learn to identify and correct major problem areas in your paper's grammar, punctuation, organization, and content
• Help you document research papers, using MLA or APA

What We Can't Do:

• Proofread or correct your paper for you. We will, however, gladly sit down and discuss your paper with you
• Read through and correct a paper that you have dropped off
• Rewrite any portion of your paper or tell you exactly how to edit and/or properly correct your paper's final draft
• Assess your paper in terms of grading or discuss grades or faculty members with you

Please keep in mind that your essay is your property and your responsibility and that you must make all final decisions regarding it.

"Writing is a dog's life, but the only life worth living." Gustave Flaubert

"Writing is making sense of life." Nadine Gordimer

"Writing is the hardest work in the world not involving heavy lifting." Pete Hamill

"First and foremost, I write for myself. Writing has been for a long time my major tool for self-instruction and self-development." Toni Cade Bambara