Writing Center
The Writing Center offers individual assistance in the writing process to curriculum students of all programs. The Writing Center works individually with students on a first-come, first-served basis or by appointment. The Writing Center attempts to help students to improve their critical thinking and writing skills.
The Writing Center is located in WLC 220. Please check the Campus-Wide Operating Hours page for the Writing Center hours of operation.
The Writing Center CAN
- Ask questions to help students think
- Encourage and guide student writers
- Explain grammar problems
- Help students learn to organize and develop papers
- Help students avoid writing problems
- Help students write more effectively
- Teach students how to proofread
- Suggest source materials for research
- Demonstrate research documentation procedures
- Assist students with word processing.
The Writing Center CAN NOT
- Write the students' papers
- Write the students' outlines
- "Quick-fix" a paper due in a matter of hours
- Guarantee a perfect finished product
- Influence an instructor's grade
- Claim expertise on every paper's topic.
Writing Center Policies
- The Students must present a valid ID card.
- Students are encouraged to sign up for an appointment. They may come by or telephone 919-735-5151, ext. 6898, to make an appointment. A student who drops in may wait for a no-show.
- Consultations are limited to thirty minutes per student. If during the semester the Writing Center staff deems it necessary, consultation times well be shortened to accommodate the number of assignments.
- Students forfeit appointments if they arrive ten minutes late. If no other student is waiting for the appointment, the writing center consultant will honor the appointment.
- Students may sign up for only one consultation at a time.
- Students are permitted two consultations on each writing assignment with the approval of the instructor. Additional consultations must be approved in writing by the instructor.
- Students may sign up for an appointment for the following week beginning at 12:00 pm each Thursday.
Preparing for a Consultation in the Writing Center
- Schedule an appointment in advance of the assignment's due date.
- Bring all information and materials needed for the assignment.
- Neatly keyboard or handwrite the paper/outline.
- Triple space every paper, whether it is keyboarded or handwritten.
- Proofread the paper before bringing it to the Writing Center so that you can eliminate careless mistakes and so that we do not waste valuable time during the appointment with these kinds of errors.
- If you come to the Writing Center for a second consultation on the same paper, please bring the original paper with you.
- Be prepared with specific questions for the writing consultant. Most consultations begin with "What do you want to work on today?" Be prepared with an answer.
- If you are preparing a paper as a group, schedule a time when all the members of the group can attend the consultation.
- A group should submit one paper not fragments of the paper from each member of the group.
- Come with realistic expectations of what can be accomplished in thirty minutes.