University Writing Council

The WCU University Writing Council and its advisory board support all aspects of the writing curriculum, from first year through graduate studies. To learn more about how we can support you, see our website.

Portable Writing Center Sessions

This program brings tutors to your class to mentor your students in some aspect of writing, from choosing a topic to revising a draft. We request that faculty not make attending the writing center mandatory for all their students. Having 25 students come to the center over the course of one or two weeks overwhelms the writing center capacity making it difficult for other students to use the service. Please contact the Writing Center Director, Margaret Ervin, to set up a Portable Writing Center session. We need at least two weeks' notice in order to set this up.

Process for Setting Up a Portable Session:

  1. Professor contacts Writing Center Director, Margaret Ervin mervin@wcupa.edu to request a portable session.
  2. Professor and Director discuss the assignment and the needs of the students and work together to design the workshop. The workshop will be tailored to the needs of the professor and students. Examples of workshops include the following:
    • Your writing process: Do you need to change it?
    • How to write an arguable thesis
    • How to reorganize a messy draft
    • How to support an argument
    • How to introduce sources in the body of the text
    • Writing personal statements for an internship
  3. Professor and Director determine a date for the portable session. Margaret Ervin and tutors will attend your class to run a workshop on the chosen topic.

Our goal is to help professors run productive in-class workshops on their own in the future. We have been able to help professors who have had past frustrating experiences with in-class peer workshops.

Language for Your Syllabus

You can get free one-to-one peer tutoring at the University Writing Center. This is an on-demand service available to you as needed, when you need it, at any point during the semester. You can schedule yourself for a tutoring time that works for you. The Writing Center is located in FHG Library, Room 251. For directions, hours, and scheduling visit the Writing Center website. Tutorials may be conducted face-to-face or online.

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