The Writing Center also offers six IBM compatible computers for student use. These are equipped with wordprocessing software and have internet access. In general, Writing Center tutors do not make assignments, but help students with writing assigned in University courses. In certain cases, when the student is not currently enrolled in a course which requires writing, we will recommend a particular writing task. Writing Center tutoring is not, however, a substitute for writing required in academic courses.
Students often ask tutors to proofread and correct papers just before they are turned in.
The Writing Center is not a proofreading or error-correction service. Our emphasis is on helping the students become better writers, and this means that they must learn to do their own work. In general, we recommend that students come to us in the earlier stages of the writing process so that we can help them plan and revise their writing. When they do come to us for proofreading, the tutor will read the paper to identify grammatical and stylistic problems, mark the errors in one typical paragraph or the equivalent, and explain the concepts behind the errors. The tutor will then return the paper to the student for proofreading.