University Writing Center Blog

 

By LyNae Golder 

 

Why should you schedule an appointment at the writing center?  

 

There are several reasons why writers may not think to schedule an appointment with the University Writing Center (UWC). Former consultant, Hannah Hallock, shares some of the reasons in her blog post, “The Misconceptions of the University Writing Center (UWC).” Though Hallock’s post was written a little over five years ago, most of the misconceptions remain current. Many believe that the UWC is only for writers that need help with copyediting, for bad or remedial writers, for writers fluent in English, or for writers enrolling in English courses (Hallocks). Unfortunately, I used to believe these things, too.  

 

I believed there was no reason to schedule with the UWC because I was already a skilled writer. No instructor had referred me to go there for assistance, either. I hadn’t even thought about going there until Dr. Marilee Brooks-Gillies, the former director of the UWC, invited me to enroll in W397, the UWC training course, in the Spring of 2019 during my sophomore year of undergrad. I initially turned down the invitation because I was planning to take a gap year after the semester was complete. However, when I returned to IUPUI in the Fall of 2020, I was eager to enroll in the course.  

 

The first time I actually used the UWC was in W397. If I wanted to be a writing center consultant, I needed to know what consultants did. Therefore, I needed to schedule an appointment with a consultant. In my appointment, I quickly learned that, unlike my preconceived notions, the UWC is a place for writers of all kinds from all schools. Writers are also encouraged to schedule appointments by choice, not only when an instructor requires it. Here’s ten more things I learned while training in W397 and working as a consultant in the UWC: 

 

  1. The UWC is a great place to visit if you have a piece of writing due, but you need help starting it. Whether you need help brainstorming or beginning your draft, we are equipped to help you. 
  2. The UWC is a great place to visit if you have already started working on your draft, but you often procrastinate. Sometimes, having someone there to keep you accountable is helpful. You are able to have a talkative appointment if multitasking works well for you or you can choose to work silently. The fact that we can assist you if needed is a bonus.  
  3. The UWC is a great place to visit if you are working on a draft and you need a sounding board. A sounding board is someone that listens to you to help you assess your progress. Therefore, if this is something you need, we will provide you with feedback about your work and help you identify its strengths and weaknesses.  
  4. The UWC is a great place to visit if you are struggling with citations. As consultants, we aren’t trained to memorize style guides, but we have plenty of experience using them. Whether it’s MLA, APA, Chicago, or a different citation style, we can walk you through formatting your citations properly.  
  5. The UWC is a great place to visit if you are struggling with grammar conventions. While we don’t solely proofread or correct grammatical errors, we will help you improve the overall clarity of your draft by discussing and interrogating different grammatical approaches.  
  6. The UWC is a great place to visit if you are a multilingual writer, or a writer who is an English-Language Learner, and you need support with your draft. While there is an ESL Tutoring Center on campus located on the fifth floor of Cavanaugh Hall in room 505 for writers wanting to improve their overall fluency in English, we can help you with writing-specific tasks.  
  7. The UWC is a great place to visit if you’re working on personal writing. While many writers use the writing center for support with academic pieces of writing, we support students with personal essays, creative fiction, and creative nonfiction, as well. 
  8. The UWC is a great place to visit if you are working on professional writing. While there are career centers across campus that will assist you with tasks such as writing resumés, CVs, and cover letters, we will also assist you with those tasks. Additionally, we can support you with tasks related to professional development, such as writing essays for internship, graduate school, or school-specific applications.  
  9. The UWC is a great place to visit if you are a faculty member and you need support with a piece of writing. While many of our advertisements are geared towards students, faculty members are more than welcome to schedule an appointment with our consultants. 
  10. The UWC is a great place to visit if you are looking for a community of writers to support your development of writing skills over time. Sometimes, your concerns can be addressed in one appointment. Other times, you may need to schedule multiple appointments during the semester. We look forward to working with regular writers and getting to know them. 

 

Are you feeling motivated to schedule an appointment now? If so, head over to https://iupui.mywconline.com to schedule an appointment. If you need assistance, please refer to our post, “Scheduling a UWC Appointment with Ease”, send us an email at uwc@iu.edu, or give us a call at 317-274-2049. 

 

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