Writing Center announces new hours

Writing+Center+announces+new+hours

Emily Mitchell, Contributor

The Tarleton State University Writing Center has announced new hours that will allow students to receive assistance in the evenings after 5 p.m. This will expand the amount of students the Writing Center will be able to reach which will open up opportunities for students to be more successful in their classes.

The Writing Center has two locations, O.A. Grant room 239 and in the Dick Smith Library on the main floor in the Learning Commons near the tech spot. The Writing Center located in the Grant building is open Monday-Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., the location in the library is open Monday- Thursday from 6 to 8 p.m.

“The Writing Center is a free support service for students who need assistance in any stage of the writing process. Our consultants work with students from all classes, disciplines and degree plans to enhance their writing skills,” said Director of the Writing Center, Dr. Ben Sword.

“Writing Center tutors can assist students in all phases of the writing process. This means that we can help students brainstorm ideas, find credible academic sources, organize and structure their ideas, get back on-track if they’ve gotten stuck while drafting, revise completed drafts, cite sources and format documents.”

“Students should know that the Writing Center is not a place to merely get a paper edited or a place to go for some sort of guaranteed grade improvement on your current assignment,” Sword said.

“The goal of the Writing Center is not just to make your paper better, but rather to make you a better writer. The Writing Center is not an editing service. Instead, it is a tutorial service that uses your current assignments to help you build skills and strategies that will hopefully improve the writing you will do in future classes and situations.”

Sword added that he believes many students don’t know that the Writing Center is going to be most helpful to students if they come early in the process of working on a paper.

“When students come in the day before a paper is due, it significantly limits the things that our consultants can focus on and the help that they can provide,” Sword said.

“Writing and revision is a process that takes a good deal of time, and often, a good number of drafts. Therefore, the earlier in the process that students come to the center for help, the more assistance we can provide as they make their way through this process.”

The Writing Center can be reached at [email protected] and 254-968-1814.