Writing Support

What is Writing Support?

The Learning Center provides writing support to serve the needs of Shippensburg University students, staff and faculty. Writing support tutors and staff are available to answer questions, provide resources, and meet with individual students, faculty members, and entire classes.  If you are a student, you can meet with a writing tutor at any stage of the writing process to work on writing assignments for any class. Writing tutors can help with organization, incorporating research, citations, grammar, and much more!

How can I make an appointment?

Just call us at 717-477-1420, or drop by the Learning Center Monday through Thursday from 10am-9pm, or Sunday from 5pm-9pm.  Tell the receptionist that you would like to meet with a writing tutor.

You can prepare for your writing appointment by bringing along any essay prompts, assignments, rubrics, and class notes, in addition to your syllabus. You might also wish to bring pens, pencils, and highlighters. Please be sure to arrive on time.

What if I have to cancel or reschedule?

If you need to cancel or reschedule your appointment, please call the Learning Center and let us know as soon as possible. If you cancel in advance, you give another student the opportunity to get help with their writing.

What should I expect?

It is our goal to teach those seeking writing support how to develop their own writing skills; writing tutors will not edit, proofread, or re-write any wording for students. Instead, your tutor will guide you through the steps of the writing process and offer, if desired, strategies for writing success. All tutors also have a strong knowledge of writing resources, and will be able to point you in the right direction for grammar and citations.

When you arrive for your writing appointment, check in at the reception desk and the receptionist will direct you to your tutor. You and your tutor will discuss what you hope to get out of your session, and what particular skills you would like to work on. Your tutor might ask you to read your paper out loud so that you can address problem areas. After your session, you and the tutor will discuss whether your goals were met. At that time, you might wish to make a follow-up appointment. Writing assistance works best when students visit multiple times with the same assignment. For example, in one appointment you might work on finding a topic and writing a thesis, the next appointment might deal with organization, then you might meet a third time ot discuss grammar. Because writing is a process, the writing tutor will most often request that you meet for at least two sessions.