Writing Center Faculty Resources: Faculty Resources

How We Do What We Do

As a writing center, our purpose is to help Spalding students grow as writers. We are not a free editing service – if we simply “fix” a paper for students, nothing will be learned in the process. Accordingly, we will not make changes to students’ drafts. Instead, we will discuss and comment on “global” issues (organization, development, clarity) explaining the issue and suggesting strategies for resolution. For “local,” editorial issues (grammar, spelling, APA, and formatting), we highlight the location of the issue so that students learn from making changes themselves.
 

To schedule a face-to-face appointment 

You can now schedule Writing Center appointments through Navigate! In the desktop or the app, go to the “Appointments” menu and select “Make an Appointment.” When asked who you want to schedule with, just choose the Writing Center and answer the other questions about what you need help with. You can still schedule the old-fashioned way too, by emailing us, calling us, or stopping by our desk.

Schedule face-to-face appointments through Navigate: spalding.navigate.eab.com

You can also contact [email protected] if you have additional questions or concerns.

In order to accommodate all students, we offer a maximum of two appointments per student per day with at least a one-hour break between appointments for you to have time to process the feedback received during the appointment.

Email Consultations
For students who cannot work out a time for a face-to-face meeting, we offer an email writing consultation alternative. Students are able to upload their work via our online submission page. Our response time for emailed papers is typically 24-48 business hours for a 3 to 5-page paper (weekends and holidays not included). If students must use email, they will want to do so well in advance of the paper’s due date.

Please realize that this email option is less effective when compared with a one-on-one consultation because it does not allow for questioning, discussion, and the quality interaction that takes place when two people enter into an active discourse on writing. As such, we strongly recommend that students meet with us in person whenever possible.
 

Extra-Credit Writing Center Visits

To ensure that your students are utilizing the services we offer at the Writing Center you have the opportunity to offer extra-credit for visiting us, if you wish.  If you require your students to make an appointment with us in person, or submit a draft of their paper online, we will provide the student with a consultation form as proof of attendance.  Our consultation forms are also a valuable mode of communication because we will summarize the consultation as well as list the goals for revision after the session. Students can also be asked to write a brief reflection on their experience to earn the extra credit.  If you would like to incorporate an extra-credit Writing Center visit into your assignment(s), we kindly ask that you contact Darby ([email protected]). 

In-Person Consultations

Students are invited to make appointments. Our face-to-face consultation sessions are generally about 45 minutes and focus on the student’s place in the writing process and the assignment. We focus on areas of strength and areas that provide opportunity for revision. 

These face-to-face sessions are the most effective way for us to work with students as they allow us to spend time focused on a single student’s work. This type of consultation allows us to enter into a conversation about the writing process in an environment where the vulnerability of the student and their work is acknowledged and respected. 

This section provides information on Peer Reviews (both seated and online) and embedded writing center work....

Peer Review (online)

The following tutorials provide some good direction and explanation of how to setup a peer review in canvas and how students and the writing center can interact in the peer reviews.

How to setup a peer review in Canvas 
Student peer reviews in Canvas

If you would like to schedule a peer review for your class, we kindly ask that you give us at least a week's notice so we can ensure proper staffing of the Writing Center to meet your needs. To begin the scheduling process, please email Darby ([email protected])

Embedded Writing Center

Writing Center Consultants will give feedback to students on their drafts directly in Canvas. If you would like to schedule online-embedded Writing Center for your class and you have never used this service before, we would suggest a meeting where we can discuss your assignments, learning outcomes and goals, and what we as a center might be able to offer. We kindly ask that you give us at least a week's notice so we can ensure proper staffing of the Writing Center to meet your needs. To begin the scheduling process, please email Darby ([email protected]).

Peer Review (seated) (limit 20 students)

Peer review with the Writing Center consists of dividing a class into small groups of three or four students. A consultant from the Writing Center then facilitates a group discussion of the work of each member of the group. Generally this consists of each member of the group bringing multiple copies of their paper, reading each paper aloud, discussing the paper and taking notes as to the feedback provided by the participants. All of this is done with a focus on the assignment and the writing process. Below is a video which you can share with your students to prepare them for peer review.

Peer Review Tips (Video you can share with students)

If you would like to schedule a peer review for your class, we kindly ask that you give us at least a week's notice so we can ensure proper staffing of the Writing Center to meet your needs. To begin the scheduling process, please email Darby ([email protected]).

Due to staff scheduling constraints, we cannot currently accommodate in-person peer reviews for more than 25 students. Please email us for more information on other ways we can accommodate your class.

In-Class Presentations Facilitated by the Writing Center

We will tailor workshops or presentations to your class’s needs. If students are struggling with a particular writing task or if you simply want to provide them with an overview of our services, we can create a brief workshop to suit your needs. 

If you are interested in hosting a Writing Center Presentation we ask that you email Darby at least a week in advance of your desired date for our visit.  In your email, please communicate your needs, goals, and expectations. Then, we will thoughtfully prepare a presentation to target the specific areas of your concerns as well as craft specialized handouts and other reference materials for the benefit of your students. Workshops we offer include:

Introduction to Writing Center Services

This is a brief introduction to the Writing Center which provides students with information on what services are offered by the Writing Center, how to make an appointment, and how to find us and contact us with any questions they may have.

This brief orientation takes about 10 minutes.

Peer Review

Peer review with the Writing Center consists of dividing a class into small groups of three or four students. A consultant from the Writing Center then facilitates a group discussion of the work of each member of the group. Generally, this consists of each member of the group bringing multiple copies of their paper, reading each paper aloud, discussing the paper and taking notes as to the feedback provided by the participants. All of this is done with a focus on the assignment and the writing process. Below is a video which you can share with your students to prepare them for peer review.

Peer Review can last anywhere from 45 minutes to the entire class period depending on the length of students’ papers. Due to staff scheduling constraints, we cannot currently accommodate in-person peer reviews for more than 20 students. For larger classes, we do offer Canvas peer review. Please email us for more information on what that entails.

Peer Review Tips (Video you can share with students)

Facilitated Brainstorming Workshop

In this workshop, Writing Center Consultants work with your class to help jump-start the writing process. This workshop is similar to a peer review in that students will be encouraged to respond to each other’s ideas, ask questions, and make suggestions for research. The goal of this workshop is to help your students establish their ideas for their topic, argument, and research questions, if applicable to the assignment. (For a workshop focused on the actual act of researching, please reach out to the Library).

This workshop takes about 30-45 minutes.

Citation Workshop

Representatives from the Writing Center will present on the specifics of citation (APA, MLA, or Chicago style) including the following topics: cover page, abstract, formatting of body text (headings & subheadings, block quotes), in-text citation, and reference page. This workshop also covers how to properly quote and paraphrase outside sources. (If you would like us to cover a citation style that is not APA, MLA, or Chicago, please give us time to put resources together for that style).

This workshop typically takes about 30 minutes.

Literature Review and Synthesis Workshop

This workshop discusses techniques for preparing for and writing a literature review with a focus on how to synthesize research from multiple sources. Students will be provided with resources and instructions on how to organize their quotes and sources and tips and tricks for how to create an organized and focused literature review.

This workshop takes about 30-45 minutes.

Career Document Workshop

This workshop focuses on the building and creation of Resumes or CVs (please let us know which one your students are working on and we will bring the appropriate materials) and also discusses Cover Letters. This workshop can be tailored to students of all levels from students who have never written a resume before, to students about to begin their job search. You may encourage your students to bring copies of their resumes/CVs/Cover Letters and we can add peer review as a component.

This workshop takes about an hour.

Personal Statements and Application Essay Workshop

This workshop covers writing personal statements and application essays with a special focus on identifying and promoting students’ strengths and helping students to write essays that are personalized, eye catching, and which avoid common pitfalls.

This workshop takes about 45 minutes to an hour.

Custom Workshop

Does your class have a specific need that you don’t see covered here? We are able to work with you to create a workshop that will meet your needs. Please reach out to us to discuss what may work best for your class.

SU100 and Writing Center
We have provided some documents to help support you and your students in SU100 with a focus on the SU100 Essay and how to scaffold the writing process. We encourage you to reach out to us should you have questions or wish to discuss the Writing Center's support of your class. You can email the Writing Center directly at [email protected] or email Darby Campbell, MA (Writing Center Coordinator) [email protected]

Writing Center and the Quality Enhancement Plan Continued Collaboration

Spalding's Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) is a five-year project in conjunction with our SACSCOC re-accreditation.  The framework of Spalding's QEP is grounded in the compositional and rhetorical scholarship of writing process pedagogy.  Therefore, our Writing Center (WC) is a foundation of best practices in the Writing Intensive classroom.  We encourage Spalding's Faculty and Staff to scaffold Writing Center services into their writing assignments. This can be implemented through in class presentations facilitated by WC staff; email and face-to-face peer student consultations; embedded online Writing Center; and other specialized services to support your Writing Intensive classroom.  

If you are interested in having your students work closely with The Writing Center, please contact Writing Center Coordinator, Darby Campbell, to schedule a meeting to discuss how we can personalize our services to meet your needs. 

Additionally, if you need further information and support from the QEP program, please check out the invaluable faculty resources on the QEP Website

QEP Website

Spalding's QEP Department has created a website that is an invaluable resource for faculty teaching a writing intensive course. For example, if you need a refresher on how to scaffold the writing process into your writing assignments, we encourage you to check out their website. Also, The QEP Team has created informative literature about the best practices for making revision-oriented comments on your student papers as well as links to other writing intensive teaching pedagogues. Additionally, there are many teaching tools on their website such as brainstorming engaging writing assignments to support writing through revision.