Student Policy Statement for Writing Help

What will happen when you come to the Writing and Study Skills Center for writing help?

1.  You will be greeted by a tutor who will work with you to discover your needs.

• A tutor will ask you questions about your writing concerns, problems you’ve had in the past, and the assignment if you are working toward one.
• You are encouraged to bring an instructor referral, previously graded work, or a current assignment so a tutor may look at these materials to help determine the kind of assistance you need.

2.  A tutor will complete a prescription form outlining problem areas and suggested resources.

• A tutor will look at your paper and mark some of the problem areas on a “prescription form” and then go over how to find and fix those kinds of problems.
• You can use this form to help you identify and correct your paper’s problem areas on your own.
• In this step, the tutor will identify types of problems in your document and will discuss one representative sample to provide strategies for improvement but will not mark in your paper.
• To improve your writing skills, we offer one-on-one instruction, notebooks of sample essays, worksheets, practice exercises, videos, computer tutorials, and more.
  

3. If you have a complete draft (including works cited), you can request online coding to put the final polish on your paper after you have received a prescription.

• You will receive an email that you will need to respond to with your paper attached after you have tried to address the problems identified during the prescription process.
• You must use your Wake Tech email address; no other email addresses are accepted.
• When coding, a tutor will note errors in your paper by marking Hacker codes in the margins. The “Comments” feature of Microsoft Word will indicate the lines where the errors occur so that you can correct these mistakes yourself.
• Not all errors will be marked; once a consistent pattern of errors is established, the tutor will note the last time the mistake is marked so that you can practice finding and correcting that error in the rest of your paper.
• The tutor will then email the coded paper back. Papers received by 12:00 p.m. should be returned before the end of the day. You may not receive a coded essay until Monday if you submit after 12:00 p.m. on Friday.
  

General Guidelines

• You must have your student ID with you every time you use the Writing/Study Skills Center.
• Each paper can be coded only two times.
• Papers must be typed and double-spaced. Be sure to bring an electronic copy for online coding.
• Bring your assignment sheet with you.  We can provide more accurate instruction and guidance when we know what your instructor expects from your writing. 
• Bring questions and concerns to our tutors and be an active participant in the tutoring sessions. 
• Take advantage of the tutoring help available to you!  Tutors will not spend more than 25 minutes coding your paper, but you can get as much help as you want during the prescription process from tutors who can teach you composition and proofreading skills.
• Avoid scrambling to the Writing Center hours or minutes before a paper is due.  Give yourself enough time to apply the skills you’ve learned.
• Helpful Hint – Bring us your best effort.  Tutors are likely to code more of your paper if it’s not crammed full of errors, so learn how to avoid many of these errors from our tutors before getting your paper coded.