Writing Center

Résumés ~ Brainstorming ~ Cover Letters ~ Essays ~ Artist Statements ~ Outlines ~ Research ~ Bibliographies & Citation ~ Thesis Development ~ Revision ~ Editing ~ Organization ~ Proofreading ~ Senior Theses ~

The Cornish Writing Center is a free resource offering support to all students, faculty, and staff as they develop their writing and reading. We help writers publicly share their artistic and academic works and ideas. Tutors provide practical, friendly, and collaborative feedback on works at any stage in the process through thoughtful one-on-one and group conferences of. Writers are invited to use the Writing Center computer lab and consult our books and handouts on writing at any time we are open.

WRITING LAB HOURS FALL 2008

Monday 10am - 4:30pm
Tuesday 9am – 6pm
Wednesday 9am – 4:30pm
Thursday 9am – 6pm
Friday 10am - 1:00pm

I WANT TO COME TO THE WRITING CENTER! HOW DO I GET STARTED?

Come with your draft and notes, or just with your assignment. You are welcome to conference with us unlimited times throughout the semester, even on a single project.

To schedule a conference:

Drop by the Writing Center at MC311
Email us at
Call Amanda at 206-315-5806

To drop in:
Feel free to drop in for a 30 minute writing conference. If our peer tutors are already conferencing with another writer we may ask you to schedule a later time.

HOW DOES A WRITING CENTER CONFERENCE WORK?

Our peer tutors can help you at any stage of your writing process. In each 30 minute conference, writers and tutors work together to identify your strengths, brainstorm ideas, clarify content, and develop strategies for revision and editing. We’ll work with you where you are and help you reach the goals that you set.

Bring the following with you:

A copy of your assignment or reason for writing
Any notes or drafts you have written
Your reason for coming to the Writing Center

Our approach to helping you with your writing includes:
Clarifying the assignment or project
Attending to the overall meaning and message of your writing
Identifying and addressing your concerns and aims
Identifying patterns of strength in your writing
Responding to your work with questions and strategies

WHO ARE THE WRITING CENTER TUTORS?

Our Writing Center Tutors are composed of Cornish students like yourself and the Writing Center Coordinator, Amanda. Peer tutors are interested and inquisitive writers, learners, and artists who are enthusiastic about working with others. They receive on going training in writing pedagogy, peer response, and methods of tutoring.

Amanda’s specialty is rhetoric/composition and writing pedagogy. She is also a faculty member in the Humanities and Social Sciences, where she teachers courses in the study and practice of writing.

TUTOR OFFICE HOURS FOR FALL 2008

Amanda Hill, Writing Center Coordinator

Monday 10am- 3:30pm
Tuesday/Thursday 1pm - 3pm
Available other times by appointment

Morgen Bell, Writing Center Peer Tutor

Tuesday 10am - noon
Wednesday 9am - noon

Nick Cangie, Writing Center Peer Tutor

Tuesday 5 – 6pm
Wednesday 1 – 4:30pm
Thursday 9am - noon

Molly Hart, Writing Center Peer Tutor

Monday 3:30 – 4:30pm
Tues/Wed/Thurs Noon – 1pm
Friday 10am – 1pm

Isaac Waring, Writing Center Peer Tutor

Tuesday 3 – 5pm
Thursday 3 – 6pm

ESL & INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS RESOURCES

The center provides language assistance for International and ESL students, including help with expanding vocabulary, understanding assignments, conveying ideas, understanding sentence structure, and working with verb tenses and articles. We offer one-on-one tutoring and ESL resources, both at the center and online, which are helpful for developing effective reading, writing, and speaking. Contact Amanda if you would like to make use of our ESL Resources.
On-line Resources for Learning English as a Second Language »

FACULTY RESOURCES

We invite faculty to supplement their own classroom writing instruction with Writing Center Resources by referring students to us in your assignments. We would be happy to have a representative visit your class to meet students and describe the Writing Center resources during a 5-10 minute class visit. We can work with you to create and facilitate in-class peer revision workshops or brainstorming sessions. Amanda is available to provide assistance and feedback on the creation of writing assignments, how to evaluate student writing, and discuss writing pedagogy with you.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Why use the Writing Center?

We work with students to address these and other writing questions:

Have I done what the assignment asks me to do?
How do I make an instructor’s assignment my own?
How do I get ideas for my writing project?
How do I anticipate the needs of my project’s audience?
Are all the parts of my writing clear? Do the parts connect?
Does my writing have a direction yet?
Have I left something important unsaid or included too much?
How do I write using sources?
How do I give credit to the sources I’ve used?
How do I make effective use of Internet-based sources?
How do I make sure I don’t have a lot of grammar mistakes?
What resources are there for writers with disAbilities?
How do I write a résumé and cover letter for a job application?
What is plagiarism and how do I avoid it?
As an ESL writer, how do I become a stronger writer in English?

Can students visit the Writing Center if they don’t have anything written yet?

Students may come with whatever they have: their assignment, notes, scribbles, ideas, worries. We can work from where they are to where they want to be. We absolutely need students to bring a copy of their assignment.

What happens at the Writing Center?

Students can meet with tutors one-on-one or in a small group to talk about how they understand their assignment and what kind of paper they are writing. We will talk about the students’ objectives for their papers, their concerns, and together will review strategies for generating ideas, revising, organizing, editing, or proofreading their papers. The Writing Center’s role is to provide support and guidance, not to correct or edit the students’ writing for them or tell them what to write. We do not assign grades, homework, or grammar drills.

Can students bring their papers for the Writing Center to proofread and correct?

We do not proofread, edit, or correct student papers. We do not tell students what to write. The center is a resource that offers personalized, individual guidance to help students gain agency and success as writers and learners. We help students build confidence in and develop their own writing by helping them learn and practice strategies for writing, critical reading, and revising their work.