Help with what kinds of papers?

West campus writing tutor Selena says, "I have had many students come in lately and ask what kinds of writing we can help with.  I just want to say we can help with nearly ANY writing assignment your teacher assigns!  Just this week I have helped with essays of varying lengths, resumes and cover letters, sentences to be corrected from a textbook, and a memo.  I have helped with many different subjects including religion, physical and fitness, medical, and history classes.  So bring down your writing assignment (of any length or subject!) and we can help you!"

More writing gems

Meaning of Life Tuesday

Deep Thoughts from Author Toni Morrison

To write is to be human, in all its messy glory. Gonna go write some messy, glorious stuff.

You want me to what?

You Want Me to Write? About What?

So often, the most difficult step in writing a paper is the first step. Not the “turning off my music and actually picking up a pencil” step or the “I can’t think of a brilliant thesis” stage, even though these are both pretty vital. It’s the step which all of us claim to have mastered, yet none of us are actually masters of:  thinking of a topic that will not only interest you, but also knock your professor’s socks off. Coming up with a relevant first sentence – or first word, for that matter – can make you want to pull your hair out. We often crumble into a series of “umm uh umm uhs” which never get us anywhere, yet always manage to take up so much of our time. Panic and chaos often ensue. By the time the due date rolls around, all we’ve managed to come up with is a summary of the subject material, something the professor will undoubtedly not appreciate, no matter how many delightful words we’ve used.

But don’t despair! The Writing Center is here to help, whether you’re in the beginning processes or just in need of a little fine-tuning, or as we like to call it: “Vision to Revision.” One of the talented and fantastically friendly tutors can help get your brain juices flowing. So don’t be shy – we’re here for you, even if it’s just to help bounce ideas around – and don’t wait till the last minute!

Alyssa--West campus writing tutor

 

Grammar Goofs

Ever send a message or write a sentence in a paper for school that, looking back on, you realize did not say exactly what you meant? Here's a link for some grammar goofs to be aware of. Start your Monday error free!

http://www.copyblogger.com/grammar-goofs/

New Spaces, Open Minds in the Downtown Phoenix Writing Center

Moving is hard. Moving is never easy. Moving leaves a sense of missing something, desiring that old comfortable spot where you know you could go even if you had no reason to be there.

That's how it felt the first time I stepped into the new Downtown Writing Center in the Post Office on the corner of Fillmore & Central. I missed our tiny, slim hole-in-the-wall in the University Center building. I could always just drop in, even when I wasn't working, because I knew the people and the space were cozy, friendly, and inviting.

When I stepped into the stark room down in a basement, at I first was startled. It was so huge that it felt empty, despite being filled with tables, chairs, and splashes of yellow and orange furniture. How could someone feel comfortable down here, isolated from the rest of the university population? Was that why people weren't coming like they normally would? Did they not know where we were anymore?

Slowly but surely as students began to fill our appointment slots, I too began to feel more at ease working down here. The space allows more people to come, more people to collaborate, more people to just say hello and drop in to see us tutors working away to help our students be better writers. It has allowed me to be more open in my own processes; inspiration dawns on me when I sit at a table or in a cozy orange chair like it never has before.

Despite moving, I realize change is good now. It gives people new perspectives and new experiences, and now it gives me those things in my own writing. I hope that students come in to feel more inspired in our new space just like I have.   

--Downtown tutor Amanda

We take writing seriously!

(from the Poly Writing Center Supervisor when she was three)

So should you.

Stick out like a dead rat?

Do your writing issues stick out like a dead rat? Even if they don't, the writing center will be able to help—not just in writing. We can help you brainstorm and plan for assignments in the future to help you become more organized. Please stop by, and give us a try.

COMMAS: Save Lives

After such a long summer break, we all are probably a bit rusty in getting back into the swing of school and writing. Grammar and punctuation rules are probably lost somewhere in the back of our brains covered in cobwebs that we’re not all too keen to clear off. While some of the comma rules can be a bit confusing sometimes, there are some basic ones that we should try to remember to…save lives of course!

We have uploaded many of our handouts from the Writing Center to our website online (http://studentsuccess.asu.edu/resources/students).  Our worksheet on commas (and other lovely punctuation) can be found here: http://studentsuccess.asu.edu/sites/default/files/Punctuation.pdf

Happy writing, ASU!

Getting It Done

For me and many of my fellow tutors, this semester is largely devoted to writing our senior honors theses. A thesis requires a great deal of reading and writing, and above all, concentration.  However, as any student knows, writing for long periods of time almost encourages the mind to wander, obliterating necessary concentration and precluding the furthering of the project. It is so easy to distract oneself when the machine we use to work is also the machine we use to play.  If only there were a program that facilitated concentration! Oh, wait...

I have found two (free!) writing programs that expediate the act of writing and eliminate the careless wandering of the mind.  The first, Written Kitten (writtenkitten.net) prompts the writer to set a word goal and encourages her to complete it through the dispense of kitten pictures at milestones.  Written Kitten is very much a reward-oriented program; it provides motivation through the writer's desire for more cuteness.  The other program, Write or Die (writeordie.com), takes the complete opposite tact: the writer sets a word goal, and the program proffers recpercussions if the writer dawdles or strays from the goal.  The repercussions range from annoying to disturbing--the program even begins to delete your words if you pause for too long. 

I have used both programs, and both have been successful in prompting me to complete writing projects from discussion board posts to thesis chapters. You should try them out for your next writing project!

Draw Every Day

Several months ago I attended a presentation at my church where a professional artist spoke about recent illustrations he made on commission for fantasy card games Magic: The Gathering and World of Warcraft. His imaginative depictions included a wide spectrum of stout, bearded dwarves, white-eyed, tangle-haired witches, and delicate green water pixies, just to name a few. Each drawing was breathtaking and carried an impressive degree of “epicness.” Appropriate to the church setting, though, the artist went on to showcase the most recent work he had been involved with: Christian artwork that depicted biblical scenes from the life of Jesus Christ. These images were equally impressive, but of course were for a different purpose and a different message. This was certainly a talented, diverse artist.

I am not an illustrator, so I surprised myself a bit when I raised my hand in the Q&A portion of the presentation to ask: “What advice would you have to aspiring illustrators wishing to make a profession of their talent like you have?” I suppose in asking I felt that it was a question someone in the audience might benefit from, but I also hoped to harvest a bit of advice that I could apply to my own ambitions. Assuming I was the “aspiring illustrator” I referred to in my question, he gave me a simple answer:

“Draw every day.”

It was so simple and so applicable. So what does this have to do with writing or being a writing tutor? If you want to improve on something, do it every day. It doesn’t have to take a huge chunk out of your daily schedule. It just has to be regular. If you want to draw well, draw every day. If you want to sing well, sing every day. If you want to write well, write (and read good writing) every day. The “what” may not always be so cut and dry, but the “when” is crystal clear:

Every day.