Center for Teaching and Learning

Writing Lab

 

Writing Lab

222 SSB, 314-516-6863
Chris Schott, Writing Center Coordinator, cschott@umsl.edu
Suellynn Duffey, Writing Program Administrator, duffeys@umsl.edu
http://www.umsl.edu/~umslenglish/Writing%20Lab/index.html

The Writing Center is every writer's campus resource for face-to-face as well as online writing consultation. It can help students become better writers and develop confidence in their writing. It can make excellent writers even better. In its new, larger, wired, and more conveniently located space, SSB 222, it will easily facilitate collaborative learning projects and other kinds of group work. The Center is free to all UMSL students and especially helpful to international students, where the Center's writing consultants have training and experience working with ESL students on specific writing issues. Center services are available online through MyGateway.

The consultants are friendly graduate students in English. They help students understand the assignment, generate ideas, focus thesis statements, integrate sources, and re-organize drafts, among other tasks. Consultants also show students how to identify and correct their own grammatical errors. Students need to understand, however, that the Center does not serve as a drop-off proofreading service. While students may visit the Center during any stage of the writing process; they will get the best results if they come in early - both in the writing of a paper and in the semester.

To work with a consultant, students are advised to make an appointment online at http://umsl.mywconline.com. The consultants see walk-ins without appointments as time permits, but it is important for students to remember that scheduled appointments are always seen before walk-ins. At the same site, http://umsl.mywconline.com, students can submit papers as electronic files, which consultants will read and make marginal comments on, and return via email. As another, more interactive online option, the Center also offers tutoring through the virtual world Second Life, which can be accessed by going to http://umsl.mywconline.com. In addition, the Center web page (http://www.umsl.edu/%7eumslenglish/Writing%20Lab/index.html) includes advice on topics from punctuation to Writing across the Curriculum, as well as information on the Center schedules, policies, and staff. Finally, the Center has a course site on MyGateway, where students can submit their papers to Turnitin.com.

Consultants visit classes at the instructor's request, to introduce the Center or talk about such topics as citing sources. Some instructors choose to encourage their classes, or individual students, to use Center services by offering extra credit, or simply requiring a visit. The Center coordinator, Chris Schott, is happy to work with instructors on these or other matters.

The Center also joins with the English as a Second Language program to present workshops on grammar, punctuation, and writing research papers. Other small-group programs are being developed to take advantage of technology in the new facility.

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