On Monday, Nov. 13, from 1-4 p.m., get free help with your writing assignments at the Great Campus Write-in. Held in 205 Gorgas Library and sponsored by UA Libraries and the UA Writing Center, the afternoon includes free snacks and a lot of encouragement along with the writing help.
No registration is required. Walk in at any time and stay the entire time to write, or leave after receiving help from librarians and tutors.
What kind of help?
“Participants come with a wide range of needs, from help with major brainstorming and getting started with their papers to help with some of the finishing touches. Tutors can help with style, content and organization; librarians can assist with research and citations,” said Sara Whitver, assistant professor and Libraries liaison to the English department.
You don’t have to wait until the Great Campus Write-in to start writing well. The Writing Center offers these five tips that help you craft and polish your work.
Tips for Writing Strong College Essays
Read your assignment sheet closely. One of the biggest challenges that novice writers face is understanding and following their instructors’ directions. If you are supposed to be doing a literature review, you probably won’t be offering an opinion. If you are writing an analysis paper, you need to do more than just summarize. Take your assignment sheets to their Writing Center sessions; they can help you review and understand the guidelines for your paper.
Spend some time pre-writing. This could include brainstorming, freewriting, outlining or note-taking.
Don’t be afraid to generate material that is messy and scattered; good ideas often come from a messy beginning.
Plan on revision. Don’t be discouraged if your first draft isn’t very polished, and don’t be afraid to make changes. Most people find that it takes more than one draft to complete an outstanding essay.
Ask a reader to look at your draft and talk about your ideas with you. Better yet, come to the Writing Center. You and your tutor will talk through your ideas and come up with strategies for improving your draft. Talking through your ideas is one of the best ways to clarify and sharpen them.
Save some time for proofreading. Look at your instructor’s corrections on your previous papers, and make sure you are looking for those errors in your current draft. Consider keeping a list of the grammatical issues that challenge you the most, so you can review those rules and proofread for those specific problems.