Writing Center Sees Increase in Student Use

Dr. Susan Gardner

The Write Spot, Southwestern Adventist University’s writing center, opens for the spring semester on Sunday, Jan. 23 at 7 p.m. Started and managed in fall 2008 by Dr. Susan Gardner, professor of English, the center provides tutors to assist students and staff with essays and other writing projects.

Students have begun to take greater advantage of the Write Spot for tutoring. The number of visits has increased overall, with about 450 total visits for the Fall 2010 semester. Most visits were from students with either a long research paper or a history paper. Gardner believes that the increase is due to the fact that the Write Spot is now a known entity on campus and more students are comfortable coming. Also, the hours were extended in the fall for more convenience and extra tutors were added to handle the amount of student visits.

“The tutor’s job is to help produce better writers, not just better writing,” Gardner says. To that end, The Write Spot tutors offer help with getting started, organization, development of ideas, transitions, grammar, usage, and punctuation, final editing, ESL issues, documenting, and avoiding plagiarism.

Tutors go through extensive training before they begin assisting other students. In addition, professors assist at various times during the week. The combination results in double coverage nearly every hour that the Write Spot is open and more students get assistance.

The Write Spot is located in the Chan Shun Centennial Library in the library classroom on the first floor, next to the library director’s office. A complete schedule is forthcoming, and will be posted outside the classroom.

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