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What
is the Writing Center? Where Can I Find More Writing Assistance on the Web?
The Writing Center is a tutorial service that assists Notre Dame students in all phases of the writing process, including finding an argument, organizing evidence, improving style, and learning grammar.
We work with all students, first year to seniors, undergraduate and graduate students, native and non-native English speakers. We see students from virtually all disciplines and colleges within the University. In the past three semesters, we have had over 3700 visits from student writers.
While many people think of the Writing Center as being strictly for inexperienced or unskilled writers ("This paper is terrible. You need to get to the Writing Center!"), we also work with Fulbright and Rhodes Scholar candidates, law and medical school applicants, and students writing senior theses and other sophisticated texts. In short, we serve inexperienced and experienced student writers, offering an audience for and response to their written work.
Tutors are undergraduate and graduate students from a range of disciplines and colleges. They receive extensive training before they begin tutoring, and their training continues throughout the semester. Most tutors, once hired, stay with us throughout their time at Notre Dame and so become highly experienced at working with student writers. Tutors are hired on the basis of faculty recommendations, writing samples, and personal interviews. They are paid for their work.
How Do I Let my Professor Know I've Been to the Writing Center? After each student visit, the tutor writes a brief account of the session--sticking to description and not evaluation. If students or faculty request, we will send these reports. It is generally a good idea to let professors know you're putting in this extra effort. The account below (excerpted) is a recent Tutor Note.
"I started the session by asking Mary to sum up her assignment for me, just to make sure she understood what she was being asked to do. Then I had her explain her 'vision' for the paper orally, citing the evidence she was thinking of discussing. I repeatedly asked her questions like, 'Why is this important?' and 'What larger theme does this illustrate?' These questions pushed Mary to make a statement about the main idea of the paper. She then wrote this in the form of a thesis statement, and I encouraged her to use topic sentences related to the thesis when constructing her paper. I explained that topic sentences relate the 'claim' of each paragraph to the larger thesis.
Mary plans to write a draft of the paper, and may return to the writing center after completing a draft."
Do I Need to Make an Appointment? Not necessary but highly recommended. We get busy when you get busy, so plan ahead! Make appointments through our online scheduler.
Where Can I Find More Writing Assistance on the Web? Check out our links to writing resources on the web. If you have your own favorites, let us know and we'll add them! If you would like more information, please call the Writing Center at 631-5390. |
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