How to Use Your Writing Center for All It’s Worth Faculty Lunch ‘n Learn Prof. Barbara Law Director, Writing Center March 24, 2016

Where We Are: Fifth Floor of the LRC http://www.oru.edu/current_students/my_services/writing-center/images/Writing%20Center%20163.jpg

When We Are Open Monday-Friday 8:45 am to 5:00 pm Fall and Spring semesters

What We Do: Make Your Students Better Writers

How Do We Do That? One-on-one tutoring on writing assignments Instructional programs Writer’s Workbench

One-on-One Tutoring

Who Are Our Tutors?

Peer Tutors Primarily Writing, English, or English education majors Other students with demonstrated writing ability Students receive in-house training and may take additional training to receive National Tutoring certification through ORU’s Office of Student Resources

Whom Do We Tutor? Composition 101 students WRT 112 students All matriculated ORU students—both undergraduate and graduate

Composition 101 Students All students enrolled in Comp 101 are required to attend 24 sessions of tutoring during the semester. They receive help from their tutors on all their writing assignments. They also complete 3 self-paced instructional programs.

Writing 112 Reading and Writing Lab WRT 112 is a pass/fail, one credit hour course and is taught by a member of the English faculty. WRT 112 is also open to any ORU student wanting to improve his or her writing skills. WRT 112 students must attend 28 sessions in the Writing Center and must complete four instructional programs. They also receive personal help on all their writing assignments. Special sections of WRT 112 for international students are offered every semester.

How Do Your Students Get Connected? Students may walk in during business hours and are then assigned a tutor, if one is available. Otherwise an appointment is scheduled. Students may schedule an appointment by signing up on the Writing Center link on ORU’s website. Students may be sent to us by you: For help on a specific paper To work on a particular instructional program. (See handout).

Instructional Programs See handout for a complete list of programs. These programs address students’ most common grammatical problems as well as organizational and stylistic ones. The programs are self paced. They consist of instruction and exercises. Some of the answer keys are listed in the program; other exercises are checked by a tutor. There is a post test at the end of the program.

Sentence Structure Program In order for you to write clear, effective, and correct sentences, you must first know the characteristics of a sentence and the ways to put the parts of a sentence together. To begin with, you need to know the definition of a sentence and what a sentence must contain.   UNIT 1—Defining a Sentence A sentence is: a. a group of related words b. group of related words that have a subject and a verb c. group of related words that have a subject, a verb, and express a complete thought A sentence also always begins with a capital letter and ends with a closing punctuation mark. If a group of words lacks any of the characteristics above, it is not a sentence; it is a sentence fragment. The sentence fragment is probably the most frequent error in student writing. Sentence fragments can seem correct because they can blend in with surrounding sentences and sound correct when read aloud, but because they lack the characteristics of a sentence, they are incorrect. Look at each of these characteristics. A Group of Words A sentence must consist of at least two words. Sometimes you might see one-word sentences in novels or other creative writing, but for the majority of writing tasks, especially academic ones, a sentence must have more than one word. Subject and Verb A sentence must have a subject (a person, place, thing, or idea) and a verb (an action or state of being). Express a Complete Thought A sentence must express a complete thought. A complete thought makes sense without needing other words. Determining if a group of words makes sense can be challenging, but the “stranger on the street test” can help.

Exercise 1 Label your notebook paper Unit 1, Exercise 1. Number it from 1-10. Decide if each sentence is complete or is a fragment. Write S if it is complete, and F if it is a fragment.   Most trout streams are in heavily forested areas. Trees line the banks of trout streams. Which keeps the water cool by providing shade. Most trout are very sensitive to changes in water temperature and thrive in cool water. But are threatened if the water gets too warm. When streamside trees are removed, more sunlight reaches the water of trout streams and thus raises the water temperature. To a point at which the trout are threatened. The removal of streamside trees for logging or for development must be approached with caution because of its potential impact. On fish population.

What Can Students Expect During a Tutoring Session? Tutors will discuss the assignment carefully with the student (so student must bring assignment guidelines) Tutors will ask student if he or she wants to focus on mechanics or content Tutors will use Socratic method—they are instructed not to make marks on students’ papers. This helps students “own” their revisions.

Evidence of Attendance If you require a student’s attendance in the Tutoring Center, and you desire to see evidence of their attending, please be sure your student makes his or her tutor sign off on the revised draft.

Available on all ten computers in the Writing Center Analyzes students essays for typical problems such as overuse of “to be” verbs, vague and abstract vocabulary, or punctuation. Students can print analysis results and before and after essays to show you. Writer’s Workbench

Writer’s Workbench Programs Instructions are available to help students use Writer’s Workbench Tutors are also able to help

International Students

How can the Writing Center help your international students?

WRT 112 Several sections offered in Writing Center every semester especially for international students One credit hour, pass/fail Taught by faculty Selling point for students: no homework!

And coming soon . . .

English Language Learners Lab Coming in Fall 2016

ELL Mini Lab Writing Center will be remodeled over summer to create a mini lab for ELL students Centralizes writing instruction for international students Will be staffed by faculty trained to teach English as a second language Students will have access to computer programs for grammar and writing instruction

Send us your students! We can’t promise to send you back a C. S. Lewis, but papers will be written at least in complete sentences.