Writing Center|PWR|University of Colorado Boulder

The Writing Center

We offer writers from across disciplines and skill levels the opportunity to work one-on-one with consultants trained in writing pedagogy. Writing Center sessions strive to address writers' stated needs while attending to relevant disciplinary, rhetorical, grammatical, and stylistic concerns. Consultants provide feedback and advice that promote writers' abilities to communicate successfully and think critically in the complex and changing environments of the university, the workplace, and society.

Services are FREE to CU students, faculty, staff and alumni. Informational flyer is available for download.

Summer 2013 (June 3 to August 9)

Monday - Thursday:	12:00 P - 4:00 P
Friday:	closed

Appointments

Writing Center sessions must be reserved with an appointment. Appointments can be made in person or online. Once you've registered with our scheduling site, you can log on to view and reserve appointments up to five days in advance. If you're having difficulty finding an appointment time, please stop by to see about possible same-day openings and special advance booking.

Location

We're in the Norlin Commons (Norlin E111, near the east entrance of Norlin Library). We have also expanded our Writing Center offices and services to our new space located in Stadium 260. (Enter through Gate 11 on the east side, go through the black double-doors on your right side, and take the service elevator to the 2nd floor. Turn right off the elevator, and go through the first door on the right side of the hallway.)

Contact Information

The Writing Center Front Desk Assistant at (303) 735-6906 or wrtghelp@colorado.edu. For information about writing courses at CU, please call the Program for Writing & Rhetoric at (303) 492-8188.

FAQs

Student FAQs

What should I bring with me to a consultation?

Most importantly, take some time to think about what you want to accomplish in the session; listing your specific questions for the consultant is very helpful. Bring:

Your PRINTED draft ( unless your goal is to brainstorm or create an outline)
The assignment description
Any articles, books, and other references that you're using along with note paper and a pencil.

When you’re reserving the appointment, be as detailed as possible in explaining the purpose of your visit. Try to arrive five minutes before the appointment so you’re ready to start on-the-hour.

What can I expect from a Writing Center visit?

You will meet one-to-one with a consultant who is professionally trained to teach collegiate writing. We’ll discuss your specific writing concerns and provide feedback and suggestions. Writing Center consultations can take place at ANY stage of writing from planning through revision. We work with CU Boulder students, faculty, staff and alumni of all disciplines and skill-levels.

What kinds of writing does the Writing Center help with?

We provide advice and feedback on all kinds of writing: class assignments, thesis and dissertation chapters, scholarly articles, popular articles, business letters, grants, proposals, lab reports, resumes/CVs, cover letters, and personal statements. We also help faculty and teaching assistants to design writing assignments and respond to student writing more effectively.

How long does a consultation usually take?

Appointments begin on-the-hour and last 50 minutes. You’re limited to one appointment per day and two appointments per week to ensure fair availability for all of our clients.

Will the Writing Center edit or proofread my paper for me?

We’re always happy to answer your specific grammar and style questions. We will not, however, edit or proofread an entire paper for you. We will teach you how to recognize your errors and improve your ability to edit and proofread your own writing.

Does the Writing Center offer subject specialists to fact-check my papers?

As the writer, it’s your responsibility to learn and understand the concepts about which you’re writing. The Writing Center is here to help you communicate those ideas more clearly and effectively. If you're having difficulty understanding course material, please visit with the professor or T.A. during office hours for assistance.

Does the Writing Center offer translation services ?

Translation is a specialty outside of our expertise and educational mission; we can only offer support for texts written in English. However, we’re always glad to work with English language learners to improve their communication abilities in English. You may wish to contact specific language programs at CU (e.g. Spanish, Portuguese, etc) if you’re in need of a translation service.

Is there a limit on how many pages I can expect to cover in a single consultation?

It depends on what you want to accomplish, but 7-10 pages is the maximum for one session. Keep in mind that whatever reading the consultant does will take place during the consultation. For longer term papers, theses, etc., we recommend making multiple appointments with the same consultant to allow for adequate time to meet your writing needs.

Can I reserve a repeating appointment time?

Due to limited resources and great demand for our services, we cannot guarantee a repeating reservation, but we’ll do our best to accommodate your needs. If you have never had a Writing Center consultation before, we ask that you make one or two trial appointments for two reasons. First, to make sure that what we provide will help you achieve your goals. Second, to allow you to find a consultant with whom you can work productively, on a weekly or bi-weekly basis, over a period of weeks or months. Email wrtghelp@colorado.edu or call (303) 735-6906 with inquiries.

Can I bring a take-home essay exam to the Writing Center?

Yes, but it is your responsibility to observe the CU Boulder Honor Code. Most instructors will be pleased that you’re making the effort to improve your writing, but if you have any concerns about bringing an assignment to the Writing Center, please confer with your instructor before your appointment.

Can I make a same-day appointment?

Sometimes this is possible, but we strongly suggest making your appointments at least a few days in advance. The Writing Center tends to be busiest in the morning and early afternoon. During midterms and finals, appointments should be made well in advance. We don’t offer walk-in hours, but if you stop by and there's a time slot open, you're welcome to make an appointment on the spot.

What if I need to cancel or change an appointment?

If you must cancel an appointment, please try to do so no later than 24 hours in advance. To cancel online, login to our scheduling page and open "My Control Panel." You'll see a list of appointments you've made. Next to each appointment are “modify” and “delete” options . NOTE: Same-day cancellations must be made by phone: (303) 735-6906 or email wrtghelp@colorado.edu.

What if I miss an appointment?

On rare occasions missing an appointment is unavoidable. If you miss an appointment without canceling it, please send an email to wrtghelp@colorado.edu to let us know what happened. If you fail to contact us, it will be counted as a "no-show." *Two no-shows may result in your appointment privileges being suspended.

What if I'm late to an appointment?

We strongly suggest showing up five to ten minutes BEFORE your appointment so that you're prepared to start right away at your scheduled time. If you're ten or more minutes late to an appointment, we reserve the right to give away your time slot to someone else. If you're running late, please call us at (303) 735-6906. We can hold your appointment for up to fifteen minutes past the start time. Also, if you anticipate being a few minutes late, please note this when reserving/confirming your appointment.

What should I do if I have difficulties with the scheduling software?

Try using the help function on the scheduling site first. If this does not help, call us at (303) 735-6906 or send an email to wrtghelp@colorado.edu. If you're on campus, stop by the Writing Center and we'll be glad to help.

What if I can't find any open appointments on the schedule?

The online schedule shows the current day and next two days, refreshing at midnight. To book an appointment that does not yet appear online, you have to come to the Writing Center in person.

Is there a waitlist for same-day appointments that open up?

If you're near Norlin Library and want to work with us the same day, stop in and ask to be on the stand-by list. This means that you'll get first priority if someone fails to arrive for a scheduled appointment or cancels that day. We will contact you by phone (or, if you specify, by email). Same-day openings tend to come up suddenly, so if you do not answer your phone, we generally will not leave a message. If you're looking for something in the next few days, check the schedule often because it changes frequently. You can often find same-day cancellations by checking the schedule before 10AM.

Faculty FAQs

What exactly does the Writing Center do?

The Writing Center is a unique, although sometimes misunderstood teaching resource at CU. Our primary goal is to teach members of the CU community how to be more skillful, self-aware, resourceful and confident about their writing in every possible rhetorical context. We don’t copy-edit papers or proctor grammar quizzes. Perhaps one of the most exciting parts of the teaching we do is that students opt to come to us. There are no grades here. No one is required to attend for credit. What we provide is individualized attention and advice for learning to write clearly, purposefully, correctly, and memorably. Our staff of writing consultants, trained in collegiate composition and rhetoric pedagogy, meets one-on-one with writers to provide feedback and advice tailored to each client’s writing situation. Clients must register with our scheduling website and book appointments to meet with us. Consultations are free of charge to all CU students, faculty, alumni and staff. Same-day appointments are occasionally possible, but we recommend booking at least five days in advance.

Should I require that my students come to the Writing Center?

No. While we always encourage faculty to recommend the Writing Center as a helpful resource for students, we must ask that you refrain from requiring visits. We’ve found that when students are required to visit the Writing Center, they are often resistant to engaging in productive conversations about their writing and far less likely to retain strategies that will last beyond the consultation. Also, required visits strain limited Center resources and prevent other writers on campus from being able to use our services.

Will you let me know whether my students are visiting the Writing Center?

We don’t provide proof of visits because it conflicts with our philosophy of student agency and our ability to remain a neutral, non-evaluative space for teaching. Similarly, we will not participate in grade disputes. If you’d like proof that your students are coming in, ask that they write you brief reflective cover letters describing what they learned from us and how they applied this to their revised paper. They can also print out a copy of their appointment confirmation email as further proof of a visit. The associate directors, Eric Klinger and Steve Lamos, are glad to talk with faculty about pedagogical issues. Please arrange a time to meet with one of us by calling (303) 735-6906.

How can I arrange for someone from the Writing Center to come tell my students about the services available to them?

One of the best ways to encourage your students to visit the Writing Center is requesting that a consultant visit your class to provide a brief overview of our services. Class visits generally last about 10-15 minutes and can be arranged by sending an email to wrtghelp@colorado.edu. Be sure to include the following information in your visit request:

Preferred and alternate date for presentation
Building location (please include directions for hard-to-find classrooms)
Number of students
Course and section number
Time that you'd like the visit to occur (usually the first or last 15 minutes of class)
Specific information requests for the presenter (e.g. APA / MLA style sheet)

For additional information, please contact us at (303) 735-6906.

I’d really like the Writing Center to create a writing workshop for my class—is that possible?

We provide workshops tailored to writing in specific disciplines and genres as part of our campus outreach. If you are interested in a workshop that addresses writing concerns specific to your class, contact us at wrtghelp@colorado.edu. Please note that such workshops are time-consuming to create, so allow plenty of time for us to meet with you and design a lesson plan.

Can the Writing Center help my students avoid plagiarism?

One of our most popular requests from students is how to properly cite and format sources in academic papers. Our consultants teach students how to smoothly incorporate and cite source materials in their writing using proper signal phrases, paraphrases, and quotations according to a style manual (MLA, APA, CMS, etc.).

Will you assist my students with take-home exams?

We observe CU's Honor Code. When students make a reservation to visit the Writing Center for take-home exams, they must pledge that they've sought instructor permission. As with any paper we see in the Writing Center, take-home exams are discussed only in terms of writing-specific issues such as thesis, organization, style, grammar, citation, and rhetorical appeals. We do not provide content-specific advice (e.g. we will not “correct” conceptual matters such as whether they've provided a valid analysis of the Treaty of Versailles); instead, we will help them to communicate, clarify and organize their own concepts and analyses.

What kinds of services does the Writing Center offer to members of the faculty?

In addition to class visits and customized workshops for your students, the Writing Center can help you to design and revise more effective writing assignments. Our consultants are trained and experienced in teaching collegiate writing and can assist you with writing assignments in any discipline. We're also glad to provide feedback and advice about other work you may have in progress (e.g. publications, conference papers, grant proposals, etc.).

Program for Writing & Rhetoric