The Writing Center at Indiana University 51ÁÔÆæ is staffed by knowledgeable consultants (most of whom are fellow students) who are trained specifically to talk about writing and help you to write more effectively. Many of the consultants are English majors, but many are also familiar with writing in other content areas.
The Writing Center is designed to help you with every stage in the writing process, including
Understanding the assignment
Determining a topic
Brainstorming/prewriting/formulating ideas
Writing a thesis
Composition
Formatting/documentation
MLA, APA, Chicago, etc.
Revision
If you can identify which part of the process you are struggling with, it will help us to give you the help and support that you need. If you just want another pair of eyes to look over your work, or just chat about writing in general, we’re here for that too!
You are welcome to come by The Writing Center at any point in the writing process. Visit our Contact Us webpage for our locations and hours.
Our goal at the writing center is to help develop better writers, not perfect papers. Please check out the FAQ below if you have any questions about how to use The Writing Center. If you have any other questions or concerns, please feel free to stop by at any time. We hope to see you soon!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
The goal of The Writing Center is to help you to become a better writer. We will help you improve your grasp on the rules of grammar and apply those rules in your work, in both a general sense and on a case-by-case basis with a particular paper. However, do not expect us to go through your paper with a red pen and fix your mistakes for you. We want to teach you to proofread your own papers.
Absolutely! Although we work with a lot of academic writing in The Writing Center, we encourage you to bring in any literary or personal writing that you’re working on as well (whether it’s for a class or not). Our consultants are passionate about and experienced with all kinds of writing, and would be very happy to help you.
No, just come in any time during our regular operating hours and someone will be there to help you!
Typically, a consultation will last about 30 minutes. However, if you have a longer paper or have a lot of questions, you can certainly come in for more than one consultation.
Each of our consultants work hard to be helpful and encouraging with every student, but there are times when two personalities or learning styles just don’t match up. If you have a difficult experience, please don’t hesitate to try again with another consultant; you may encounter completely different results! Also, please feel free to talk to Leigh Anne Meyer, the Writing Center Director, about any concerns that you may have.
We do have an email consultation service, and we recently introduced a LiveChat feature with our website. You can also schedule an online consultation via appointment option. These are resources that you can take advantage if your schedule or other factors prevent you from coming to The Writing Center in person. However, most of the time we can offer more help and guidance if we speak to you in person. We can offer general comments on an emailed paper, and can answer any specific questions you include in your email, but please keep in mind that the consultation process works better when we can have a dialogue about your work.
Of course! You are welcome to come in at any time and talk to us about your work, even if you don’t have anything written down yet. We can help to direct you with any weak spots that we find.
Please bring a copy of your assignment, and any work that you have done thus far. If you haven’t gotten anything down on paper yet, that’s okay! Feel free to bring notes, outlines, thoughts, ideas, or anything else that may be relevant, whether it’s on paper or not. You may also want to bring a notebook or some scratch paper and a writing utensil.
No, the services that The Writing Center provides are completely free to all IU 51ÁÔÆæ students.
We can help point you in the right direction, but for more specific or in-depth help your best bet is to ask one of the research librarians at the Library’s research desk. They are specifically trained to help you utilize all of the Library’s wonderful resources for research.
