{"id":5446,"date":"2013-09-30T20:12:16","date_gmt":"2013-10-01T01:12:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/?p=5446"},"modified":"2013-09-30T20:12:16","modified_gmt":"2013-10-01T01:12:16","slug":"its-time-you-learn-about-the-writing-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/archives\/5446","title":{"rendered":"It’s time you learn about the Writing Center"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Cameron<\/a>
Cameron Oakley<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By Hannah Hecht–<\/b>As midterms approach, professors begin to assign more and more lab reports, personal statements, literary analyses, and history essays. One of the most important steps in the writing process is often one of the most often overlooked: obtaining a second opinion.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s where the Morningside College Writing Center comes in. Located on the second floor of the Learning Center, the Writing Center has held 222 appointments with 126 different students since the beginning of the semester.<\/p>\n

However, many students around campus don\u2019t understand exactly what the Writing Center does or how it works. In order to help fix that, here are six common misconceptions about our friendly neighborhood Writing Center; each one is followed by a response from Director of the Writing Center David Elder or student consultant Cameron Oakley.<\/p>\n

Misconception #1: \u201cSomeone is going to machete my paper with a red pen until it\u2019s a bloody, shredded mass crying out for help.”
\n<\/b>\u201cPeople think that if they come to the Writing Center, someone is going to rip your paper to shreds until you feel bad about it,\u201d says Elder, \u201cThat\u2019s really not what we do; we help people with their writing. We don\u2019t just point out places where people are wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead, Elder says, writing consultants help people better fit the conventions of the genre in which they are writing, so that they can come away with a better understanding of writing.<\/p>\n

Oakley adds, \u201cPart of being a consultant is being tactful. Having someone tear up your ideas and writing doesn\u2019t help anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Misconception #2: \u201cThe Writing Center is a place for bad writers.\u201d<\/b>
\n\u201cThe writing center is for everyone,\u201d says Oakley. \u201cMany Writing Center tutors, including myself and [Elder], bring work into the Writing Center.\u201d She says it is meant to provide a second pair of eyes to see things that the writer may not be able to see.<\/p>\n

Misconception #3: \u201cI have to finish my entire 10 page paper before I can bring it in to the Writing Center.\u201d<\/b>
\n\u201cA misconception could be that you have to have anything written at all,\u201d says Elder, \u201cYou really don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

Consultants at the Writing Center will be more than happy to assist with brainstorming, outlining, or just bouncing ideas around.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter you\u2019ve already written your paper, you\u2019re going to be pretty married to your ideas,\u201d he adds, \u201cThen it\u2019s going to be hard to cut something you\u2019re written already.\u201d<\/p>\n

Misconception #4: \u201cI can just drop my paper off at the Writing Center and they\u2019ll edit it for me.\u201d<\/b>
\nOakley thinks that a lot of times, students come into the Writing Center expecting to have someone fix all of the problems, \u201cespecially grammar and punctuation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are consultants,\u201d she says. \u201cWe are here to consult, share ideas with you, and give personal advice. We are not an editing service.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elder agrees.\u00a0\u201cWe will help you with grammar; we will not do it for you,\u201d says Elder. \u201cYou will come away with a better understanding of grammar, but we will not just fix everything in your paper for you. It\u2019s a two-way street and you will help us fix the grammar in your paper.\u201d<\/p>\n

Misconception #5: \u201cIf I work with a faculty or staff member, I will get better help than if I work with a student.”
\n<\/b>\u201cI think that is patently false. Actually, I can see the student consultants maybe having a better grasp on how to help other students with their papers because [student consultants] have been in the classes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elder thinks that, while the staff and faculty members know how to look at a paper from a teacher\u2019s perspective, lots of times peer help can be equally or even more beneficial.<\/p>\n

Misconception #6: \u201cI can\u2019t go to the Writing Center because I don\u2019t have an appointment.\u201d<\/b>
\nWalk-ins are always welcome at the Writing Center. However, sometimes, especially around finals, midterms, and First Year Seminar paper due dates, the Writing Center may be too busy to accommodate walk-ins.<\/p>\n

To schedule an appointment, students simply go to the Morningside Portal page, click on \u201cNeed a Tutor?\u201d and go to \u201cWriting Help.\u201d There, students can search appointment times by either time or writing consultant and schedule their appointment in a quick and easy way.<\/p>\n

Both Elder and Oakley agree that a visit to the Writing Center is an important step of the writing process and that students should not be intimidated.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would tell anyone who is apprehensive about their first visit that they have nothing to lose,\u201d says Oakley, \u201c[A writing consultation] can only help. Plus, it\u2019s a great time for you to look over your paper again. We would love to have everyone stop by for a consultation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Writing Center is open from 9 am to 9 pm Mon. \u2013 Thurs. and 9 am to 5 pm on Friday. Students interested in setting up an appointment can to so here.<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Hannah Hecht–As midterms approach, professors begin to assign more and more lab reports, personal statements, literary analyses, and history essays. One of the most important steps in the writing process is often one of the most often overlooked: obtaining a second opinion. That\u2019s where the Morningside College Writing Center comes in. Located on the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":80,"featured_media":5447,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[203],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/80"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5446"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5446\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5448,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5446\/revisions\/5448"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}