Your path: Writing Center
Writing Center
Written communication is at the heart of education, and helping students learn to express their ideas clearly and concisely is the mission of the Marylhurst Writing Center. New students, graduate students, published writers, ESL students, faculty and staff members come to the Writing Center to discuss writing, to polish skills, to find constructive critiques and useful instruction.
A free service, the Writing Center provides trained writing assistants who lend guidance at all stages of the writing process: prewriting, developing, revising and fine-tuning. They give feedback and ask questions, helping writers to find solutions and develop skills that lead to effective written communication.
Develop Your Writing Skills
The Writing Center helps writers:
- Get started
- Find and narrow a topic
- Structure and organize thoughts
- Develop a thesis statement, introduction and/or conclusion
- Break through writer's block
- Make revisions to clarify ideas
- Edit for grammar and punctuation
- Learn correct source documentation
- Discover and refine an individual writing style
Writing Projects
The Writing Center assists with all forms of written communication, including:
- Brochures
- Business correspondence
- Essays
- Fiction
- Graduate school applications
- Letters to the editor
- Personal letters
- Plays
- Poetry
- Research papers
- Résumés
- Screenplays
- Technical writing
A Writing Center Session
Writing assistants are available to meet with students for up to 50 minutes per session. The writing assistant will ask questions about your assignment and the kind of help you need. Often the assistant will ask you to read your paper aloud. Students catch and correct many mistakes on their own using this technique.
Throughout the session, you will determine where changes in the writing will be made. After the live reading, the assistant will help you clearly communicate the paper's objective, expand discussion of under-developed ideas, clarify details and reconsider how your piece is organized. The assistant also may help you with grammar or usage by focusing on common errors. Each consultation is tailored to your needs.
Resources
The Writing Center contains a reference library of writing handbooks and guides. Writing assistants can answer your general writing questions over the telephone or via email; portions of writing drafts may be sent to a writing assistant as an email attachment. The Writing Center also provides information about writing events and contests.
Marylhurst University has adopted Diana Hacker's A Writer's Reference as the writing handbook of choice for undergraduate classes. Copies of this handbook can be found in the bookstore, at the library and also are in use at the Writing Center. A student can access the handbook online as well.