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Dealing with Plagiarism |
How the Writing Center Works: Policies & Procedures
(Please feel free to copy and distribute to your students)
• The Writing Center is open Mon-Fri during the regular academic year from 8 am-5 pm, and May through July 8 am - 4 pm. Appointments are scheduled for 1 hour. Schedule appointments at (319) 273-2361 or in person in 008 ITT.
• Scheduling your appointments several days in advance will ensure that you can meet with a tutor before your project is due. During midterms and finals, we recommend that you call at least a week ahead.
• Tutors are usually unable to accommodate requests for unscheduled (walk-in) appointments.
• Students are limited to 2 appointments per week. Same-day cancellations and no-shows count as 1 appointment.
• Please bring 2 copies of your paper to your writing appointment. One copy is for you to mark during the session; the tutor will read from the second copy and store it in in your confidential appointment file.
• Please be punctual. Our appointments start on the hour. If you are running late, please call the Writing Center so that we can inform your tutor. There is no guarantee that a tutor will be available to work with you if you are more than 15 minutes late. The remainder of your appointment time may be offered to someone on our waiting list. If you need to cancel, please call as far in advance as possible.
• If no tutors are available on the day/time you request, you can place your name/phone number/time preferences on our waiting list in person or by phone.
• Tutors can help you at any stage of your writing process, whether you’re a freshman in College Reading and Writing, a student adapting to writing requirements in a particular major, or a graduate student working on your thesis or dissertation. Our tutors complete a training course and are certified by the College Reading and Learning Association (CRLA). They are knowledgeable about and qualified to help with composition issues including the following: brainstorming, organization, thesis statements, paragraph development, preparing outlines, general editing, citation styles (APA, MLA, and Chicago), research procedures, ethical source incorporation and documentation, sentence clarity, content and argument development, grammar, transitions, formatting, thesis and dissertation revision, personal statement revision, and preparation for the writing portions of the PPST, GRE, MCAT, and TOEFL exams.
• Tutors are here to teach you how to become a better writer. We do not copyedit or “fix” student papers. Just as a math tutor wouldn't do the math for you, neither will a writing tutor correct your mistakes. We will, however, work one on one with you to help you discover where the opportunities for improvement are and help you take the action necessary to achieve the best possible finished products.
