Faculty FAQ Answers
What is the Writing Center's mission?
We help individuals improve as writers. To this end, we focus on helping writers to develop skills no matter what their writing context. We help writers to make their own choices about a text rather than "fixing" papers for them. We don't write on students' papers; we counsel students about the choices they have as writers.
The Writing Center serves all members of the University community: undergraduate
and graduate students, staff, and faculty. Students who work with a tutor
see improvement in their writing and feel better prepared for courses
that require written work. Students may visit the Writing Center occasionally
with questions about specific assignments or meet regularly with a tutor
to improve their writing habits. They often visit with concerns about
developing arguments, organization, evidence, and sentence level issues.
Who works in the Writing Center?
A full-time director, an assistant director, an ESL specialist, and twelve graduate students with special training in teaching writing staff the Writing Center. The tutors come from departments across campus and have been selected because they are good teachers. Tutors are trained to respond to writing assignments from across the curriculum. You are welcome to stop in at any time to get acquainted with our staff and services.
How can I encourage my students to use Writing Center services?
- Add a description of Writing Center services and your view of them to your syllabus. Feel free to copy the following paragraph and paste it into your syllabus:
The Writing Center offers free, one-on-one help with all aspects of writing at any stage in the writing process. To make an appointment, browse the Writing Center's online resources, or submit a draft online, please visit http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb . Located on the lower level of the Student and Academic Services Building, the Writing Center is open for appointments Monday through Thursday from 9:00 AM until 8:00 PM, Friday from 9:00 AM until 12:00 PM, and Sunday from 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM. To make the best use of your time there, please bring a copy of your assignment with you. The Writing Center will not proofread papers or talk with you about grades. Many students find visits to the Writing Center well worth their time. Visit http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/faculty_resources/feedback.html for students' views on Writing Center services.
- Share comments from past students about the effectiveness of Writing
Center services. Click here for a sample of responses from
student evaluations of meetings with tutors.
- Without using names, share anecdotes about your former students who have used Writing Center services and improved as writers.
- Bring your class on a tour of the Writing Center at the beginning
or end of a class period or recitation section. We welcome such visits and can
give a 5-10 minute overview of our services and answer questions. Email director Kim Abels to set up a time for a tour. These visits acquaint students
with our location and our friendly faces, and they clarify the nature of
our services for those who are reluctant or skeptical.
- Make an appointment for yourself so that you can experience firsthand
what students do. Faculty and TAs can work with tutors on drafts
of assignments or articles. Follow the
directions on our homepage to make an appointment with a tutor.
- Remind students that you receive conference summaries from the Writing
Center each time they visit. Reinforce for them that you value these summaries
and see them as evidence of initiative and seriousness about the course.
Alert them that they are welcome to have copies of these summaries as
well.
- Remind students that they can get help online as well as onsite. Some
students feel more comfortable sampling Writing Center services
through the relative anonymity and distance of our online services.
These services take two forms: 1) our handouts and links section, a
self-help databank of handouts addressing common writing issues, and
2) our Online Tutor, a space where students can submit drafts and receive
written feedback from a tutor within a 24-48 hour period. Both online
services are accessible from our homepage at any time.
- Describe your own writing process and when and why you seek feedback
from others. Bringing in multiple drafts of your work can provide a powerful
visual illustration of the writing process.
- Distribute the Writing Center semester calendar to your students on
the first day of class. This calendar maps the whole semester onto one
page and is a valuable planning device for writing projects and academic
life in general. Many students appreciate this tool, and it conveniently
lists Writing Center contact information as well.
- Pick up a flyer from the Writing Center to post on your office door.
How will I know when my students visit the Writing Center?
When a student visits the Writing Center, his or her tutor writes a brief summary of the conference and emails it to you. These summaries do not evaluate the student; they let you know the issues your student and his or her tutor discussed. Most professors are pleased to see that their students have taken the initiative to improve their writing skills.
Can the Writing Center help me revise or develop writing assignments for my courses?
Kimberly Abels (kabels@email.unc.edu), Writing Center Director, consults with faculty members who want to learn more about using writing assignments in their courses, as does the Center for Teaching and Learning. Feel free to contact her to discuss your particular assignment or other writing-related questions.
I'd like for all of my students to visit the Writing Center. Can I require my whole class to use the Writing Center?
No. While we support your efforts to encourage students to examine and improve their writing skills, we cannot support required visits to the Center. This policy derives from both practical and pedagogical reasons outlined below. If you'd like to discuss this policy, contact the directors.
- Demand for our services exceeds the supply of appointments. Last year,
students were turned away over 1000 times when they voluntarily sought
appointments in the Center. When students make appointments because
they are required to come in, are being given extra credit, or are completing makeups,
they prevent students who voluntarily seek help from getting it. We
seek to reward intellectual initiative and commitment by keeping all
appointments available to those who make their own decisions to improve
as writers.
- Writing Center services complement and supplement the writing instruction
that takes place within courses. We do not have the staff to support individual
writing instruction for all students in any single course. Our services
cannot replace the writing instruction necessary in any particular course.
- Students who aren't invested don't learn well. Past experience has
taught us that students who visit the Writing Center under some form
of requirement are not necessarily interested in improving their writing
skills. Some (not all) come expecting to stay for just a few minutes
so that we will write a conference summary attesting to their appearance
here. While their visits acquaint them with our services (and sometimes
develop into worthwhile sessions), often these students simply fill up our appointment
calendar and prevent other students from getting an appointment. Given the
high demand for our services, we cannot afford to allot space to students
who haven't expressed interest in their development as writers.
Should I give extra credit points to students who use the Writing Center?
No. While awarding extra points may give students extra incentive to visit, our past experience indicates that most make appointments simply to get the points without intent to improve as writers. Students who make these perfunctory appointments block other students who have actively and independently chosen to get help from using our services.
Can I send students to the Writing Center for makeup sessions when they miss a meeting with me or with group members?
No. Writing Center visits cannot replace course-related activities or requirements. Writing Center work supplements and complements course instruction.
I have one student who desperately needs help with writing. Can I require this particular student to visit the Center?
No. Even though you may have the best of intentions, requiring a student to use the Writing Center often backfires. If students are not ready to seek help, they will not be likely to receive it when they get here. Singling a student out may appear punitive and discourage other students in the class from seeking help from the Writing Center. Promoting the service to the entire class will make it easier to personally encourage individual students when needed. You can strongly recommend that students make an appointment, but we caution against compelling them to visit or involving the Writing Center in a grading issue. If you'd like to discuss ways to encourage a particular student, feel free to contact the directors for options.
Should I make grade decisions dependent on Writing Center visits?
No. Students view this form of encouragement as punishment or arbitration and often resist learning more about writing in these circumstances. If you'd like to discuss ways to encourage a particular student, feel free to contact the directors for options.
Are there alternatives to requiring students' use of the Writing Center?
Yes. The following options may provide new avenues for you to direct your students to Writing Center services and help them improve as writers. If you'd like to discuss your particular students, assignments, or your students' writing issues, feel free to contact the directors.
- Request a Writing Center workshop. A Writing Center staff member
would be happy to visit your class to deliver a short promotional message
about our services,or you are welcome to bring your students to our space for a tailored, full-class session on a
topic of your choice. We regularly design, in collaboration with you, course-specific workshops centered around problematic
writing issues such as thesis statements, using evidence, topic development,
etc. If you would like to request a workshop for your class, please
complete the workshop
request form.
- Include a Writing Center handout in your course
assignments. Faculty members around the country use these materials
as teaching tools. If you point students to the Writing Center webpage
to find the handout, students may take further advantage of the onsite
and online appointment opportunities available to them.
- Develop tutor-supported writing groups in your course. Contact
the directors for more information.
- Promote Writing Center services to the whole class. See the promotion
tactics above.
- Talk with our directors about your writing assignments and ways to improve
students' responses to them within your course.
Do tutors in the Writing Center discuss grades with students?
No. Writing Center staff members will not discuss scores or grades or make evaluative comments about assignments or papers during appointments.
How much help can an undergraduate student get from the Writing Center?
Undergraduate students can have two appointments per week (although they may not schedule two appointments on the same day) and/or two per assignment. Students writing long assignments (for example, an honors thesis) may schedule more than two appointments per paper. Students sometimes elect to make weekly standing appointments over the course of a semester.
Can graduate students make appointments?
Yes. Graduate students may schedule one appointment per week.
Can students make standing appointments to work on overall writing improvement?
Yes. Students working on overall writing improvement or a large writing project may make a standing appointment once a week. In order to be eligible for a standing appointment, students must successfully keep an appointment at the same day and time two weeks in a row. After a student has successfully maintained a month's worth of appointments at the same time, he or she may hold appointments a month in advance.
Can students bring in non-course work such as creative writing or personal statements for applications?
Yes. Many students do. Students may only have one appointment for personal statements.
My students are working on a group project. Can the whole group come in for an appointment?
Yes. Students may make a group appointment if they are working on a group assignment.
Does the Writing Center help students with take-home essay exams?
Yes. We rely on students to ask their instructors whether or not they may bring take-home exams to the Writing Center. If you do NOT wish your students to receive feedback from a Writing Center tutor on a take-home exam, please make that explicit when you distribute the exam.
My students are terrible proofreaders. Will you proofread papers before they turn them in to me?
No. We do not provide editing or proofreading services, and students may not drop off a paper and pick it up later with corrections. We can, however, teach students to edit and proofread their own work more effectively.
Do students need to have a full draft before they make an appointment? Some of my students wait until they have a full draft and then find they can't get an appointment in time.
Students do not need to have a completed draft before they make or attend an appointment. Encourage students to make and keep appointments regardless of how far along they are in the assignment.
