A Writing Center here at WPI? Is it possible? Where is it? These are the typical responses I get when I mention the Writing Center to people. It's not all that surprising considering the fact the Center has been thrown into a tiny closet of a room in the corner of Salisbury Labs and, let's face it, this being a technically orientated school, grammar and writing skills are sometimes forgotten about. However, a major part of this school is our projects. For those of you who have done any of the three know that writing is an important requirement if you actually want a decent grade.
So why exactly is the Writing Center often looked over? Here is a group of well trained peer tutors who act much like MASH leaders that are just dying to help someone out. Students attend the MASH sessions and yet rarely come to the Writing Center. Maybe it is because a lot of people are touchy about their writing and don't want anyone telling them that their paper is a piece of trash. However, the tutors will never do anything like that. They will sit down with the student and make suggestions and answer any questions you may have, but will never tear up a paper.
Also you can forget about coming to the Writing Center with an assignment and having the tutors there write it for you. That will only happen in your dreams. The tutors can point you in the right direction and help you organize your ideas so that you can more easily come up with a quick outline and hopefully an A paper. The tutors are simply compasses to be used when one gets lost in the maze of grammatical correctness and the tricky wording of assignments.
So, without further ado, here are my top ten reasons you should visit the Writing Center:
10. Your professor says if you don't you'll fail.
9. You haven't the slightest clue how to write a resume.
8. You want to brag to all your friends that you actually found the place.
7. You have a hard time distinguishing between periods and commas. (They all look like small insignificant dots to you.)
6. You get papers back that look like the professor almost bled to death reading it.
5. You have writer's block the size of Hoover Dam.
4. You only know how to write differential equations.
3. Me cawld brads, "BIG; longest mowse!"
2. Reason #3 made any sense to you whatsoever.
1. You were up all night writing your paper on No-Doze and a pot of coffee circulating through your veins and you just want someone to check to see if what you wrote has any connection with the assignment.
For more information about the Writing Center, contact Lisa Lebduska at extension 5503, by emailing lisaleb@wpi.edu or by stoping on by the Writing Center.