How to Ask for Help in the Write Site

Written by Cameron Henderson

The struggle: you’re sending your paper into the Write Site, and when you get to the section marked “specific questions/concerns,” you have no idea what to say. “Grammar, I guess? APA formatting? I don’t know, can you just tell me if it’s good?” If you’ve done this, you’re definitely not alone. Students often struggle to formulate questions to ask about their own writing when seeking assistance at writing centers. Sometimes, it’s just a matter of wording: “I don’t know how to say it, but I have a general idea of what I’m worried about.” Sometimes, students come in unsure of what they need at all. Here’s my main piece of advice: don’t stress too much about these feelings. Every writer wonders at some point if they’re doing it right. With a little guidance and a tiny crash course on the things we focus on here, you can start getting an idea of the kinds of questions that will best help you in your individual writing process.

Where to start:

Here’s the thing you need to know about the Write Site: we are not an editing service here to clean up your paper. We’re writing consultants. That is, our job is to give you feedback to help you improve your writing overall, not just in an individual paper. We like to look at the overall structure, or what we call the “global concerns” of the assignment, before we hone in on grammar mistakes. Our feedback is designed both to address the needs of your submission and to give you an idea of how to make your next paper even better.

With that said, here are a couple of ideas for where to start when considering what kinds of things to put in the “specific questions/concerns” section of your Write Site submission. Forewarning: these suggestions are not going to deal with grammar and formatting. Anyone can ask for help with grammar and formatting. Sometimes, I will admit, grammar and formatting are the main things that need to be addressed in a submission, though usually not. Most of the time, there is something else that needs to be addressed before looking at sentence-level errors. You may or may not already have a sense of what; following these two simple pieces of advice can help you figure out what to ask for to help us help you:

1. Check the rubric for question ideas

Your professor will often attach a rubric with specific requirements for the paper. Some of these requirements will deal with the content you need to include in your essay, but many of them also deal with the professor’s structural preferences. You can look at the rubric for inspiration for questions about argument, support, your thesis statement, audience, and purpose. Your tutors would appreciate your effort even if you take the wording directly from the rubric to check if you’ve done something well.

2. Read up on some of the writing lingo your writing consultants are using

You don’t have to know everything. Heck, you don’t even have to memorize the terms we use here in the writing center, though it wouldn’t hurt you as a writer. Being aware of some of the underlying structures of an essay will not only help you feel more confident asking your tutors specific questions, but will also improve your confidence as a writer. Knowing what’s going on behind the curtain makes the process of writing feel much less slippery. This handout here is a simple explanation of some basic terms (these are what we mean when we say “global concerns”) and a few example questions you can ask in your submissions. Feel free to save it for later and even copy+paste the questions into your submission forms.

That’s it, that’s my advice. Not too complicated, but hopefully you find it helpful. The first step, of course, is making your appointment–for that (and this next bit is specific to TWU students, though the rest of my advice is for anyone thinking of using writing center services at their school), you need to have a WCOnline account set up using your TWU email address. When you create your appointment, you have the option of selecting an online OWL, which is the type of appointment where you send your essay in and we send it back via email with our commentary and suggestions. There’s no live component to this type of appointment, so it’s great for those with scheduling conflicts. We love to have one or two specific questions to focus on during these appointments, since you won’t have a chance to refine your questions during our reading. You can also make an OWLive appointment, which is an online video meeting where we look over your paper with you in real time. It’s good to have an idea of what you’d like to focus on and what kind of feedback you want, but you’ll also have a chance to come up with more questions during your conversation with your consultant. Finally, you can make a live appointment in the Write Site and come to us in person for the same type of real-time tutoring. Again, the Write Site offers a tutoring service, not an editing service, so don’t expect simple revisions. Expect commentary and suggestions for ways to improve your writing and help you along in your process.

Thanks for reading, good luck, and we hope you have a great semester!

Top 5 Books on Writing

Written by Daniel Stefanelli

There’s no one formula for how to be a writer. Some people listen to music while they write, while others work in complete silence; some write at night and others in the morning; some people find writing poetry comes naturally, but others can’t get past “roses are red/ violets are blue . . .”

But there is one thing that all great writers seem to have in common: they read.

Reading is an essential tool for anyone who’s serious about improving their writing. Not only can reading be a powerful source of inspiration, but it can also help us learn and develop as writers.

Why? Well, when we read we can learn to recognize what works and what doesn’t in other people’s writing. We begin to internalize different styles and sentence structures. And, with a little practice, we can learn to ask questions about why an author chose to write their work the way they did. It’s a process we sometimes call “meta cognition” (literally: thinking about thinking) and some scholars of writing have suggested that its a key skill in learning how to be a better writer. It helps you move from wondering what you should say in your essay to thinking about how you should say it. Meta cognition is thought to be so important that some writing teachers are developing curricula based around the idea of “writing about writing.”

The good news is reading anything can be beneficial to your writing, but if you’re serious about the “meta” part of meta cognition, consider reading books about writing. Here are some of my favorite books about writing to help you get started:

1 – On Writing Well by William Zinsser

William Zinsser was a renowned journalist and writing professor. On Writing Well: An Informal Guide to Writing Nonfiction offers tips on the fundamentals of writing prose with Zinsser’s characteristic clarity and warmth. If you’d like to learn more about writing nonfiction but aren’t sure where to start, you can’t go wrong with this classic best-seller.

2 – How to Write a Lot by Paul J. Silvia

Are you the kind of writer who struggles with deadlines? If you’re no stranger to all-nighters, then How to Write A Lot: A Practical Guide to Productive Academic Writing can change your life. Funny and encouraging, Silvia has tips for writers of all levels to master productivity and make procrastination a thing of the past. This book is especially helpful for graduate students and anyone interested in publishing their work.

3 – On Writing by Stephen King

You probably know Stephen King for his seemingly endless list of best-selling horror novels, but this memoir is every bit as entertaining. Readers get a first-hand account of King’s rags-to-riches story while learning tips and tricks from one of the most celebrated novelists of a generation. Keep in mind, this is Stephen King we’re talking about, so be prepared for some adult language!

4 – Becoming an Academic Writer by Patricia Goodson

This is the closest thing I’ve found to a complete guide to improving your academic writing. Not only does Goodson share current research from writing education in simple, accessible language, but the book also contains more than fifty exercises for practicing every aspect of academic writing. Learn how to manage your time, master academic genres, and even strengthen your academic vocabulary all with simple exercises you can do at your own pace. It’s like a Write Site tutor you can carry in your backpack!

5 – The Writing Life by Annie Dillard

If you’ve never read anything by Annie Dillard, you’ve been missing out. The Pulitzer prize winner has published breathtakingly beautiful collections of poetry, memoir, and non-fiction essays. The Writing Life is a collection of short essays that will change the way you think about writing forever––and introduce you to what might be your new favorite author.

Writing Centers’ Power

Written by Charles Dyer

Believe it or not, there is a group called the North Texas Writing Center Association (NTWCA). This association of writing centers is a subset of the South Central Writing Centers Association, which is an affiliate of the International Writing Centers Association. One might expect this to then become, in the distant future, a member of the Inner Solar System Writing Center Association – in due time.

The NTWCA hosts a fall conference, a short day to share stories of successes and failures, to discuss strategies and techniques, and to impart administrative know-how. One goal of the conference is to discover what works and what doesn’t. Part of the conversations center around the widespread apathy toward writing in general.

The stories are more or less the same at any writing center. Students feel that writing is a burden, a requirement, and something only few can do well. The reasons for this are complicated and not entirely understood because the way we teach writing and grammar is complicated and not entirely understood.

With the pressure of STEM curricula bearing down on schools and teachers, the study of humanities has been slowly pushed to the sidelines and seen as a luxury. Where there are calls for mandatory composition courses in high school and college, the ins and outs of those courses are muddled and – at times – do more harm than good. This is not breaking news and is something composition directors and academics struggle to untangle daily.

What writing centers are left with are frustrated students with lackluster drives to write anything at all. Part of a writing center’s job then becomes motivating students to write and write WELL. Easier said than done, of course.

These are the kinds of conversations had at writing center conferences like the NTWCA held in the fall of 2019 at Tarrant County College’s northeast campus. Out of the strains of the conversation emerged a central question: What do we tell students to make them care about writing?

There are a few ways writing enthusiasts answer this question. The first is that there is an innate need for writing of all kinds – that it’s both an art form and a necessity for civilization.

Another answer is one I heard at the NTWCA conference. “If you want any kind of substantial job, you need to be able to write well.” The more practical answer, this insight follows the expansion of career centers and services in higher education and the ever-shrinking baseline worth of a bachelor’s degree. The more skills you have, the more likely you are to earn whatever job you want.

The third answer – a favorite of mine – is that effective communication is the glue of a society. The ability to write clearly and sensibly eliminates ambiguity and inspires cooperation. The ability to tell stories entertains the heart and excites the imagination. To be able to write is to be able to move an audience or a reader. Words drive actions and thoughts until they become real and tangible.

That’s all well and fine, but how to make students believe that is a hefty question with a monstrous answer out there somewhere. For a writing center, however, it’s about the little things. Tutors and consultants can reinforce the importance of writing little by little. That’s why returning students are so important. We have the unique opportunity to impact a human’s life when it comes to their ability to express themselves. That’s so special.

Make sure students know how important it is for them to be able to write clearly and that effective communication is their key to the world.