The Powerful Resources Found in Writing Centers

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College Writing Centers

College writing centers are the single most powerful resource of academic assistance provided to students by their institutions of higher learning. Writing centers provide a place where students can go to have their papers evaluated by English professors and other literary specialists to receive much needed critiquing, or proofreading of their work, or editing of common errors. Having another set of eyes review and critique a students' work is very important because these professors can point out mistakes or grammatical errors that may be overlooked by students. In most cases, the faculty member that is assisting a student has a significantly better understanding of a professors requests, or ticks, and can help the student in areas that a specific professor may view as important.

Some professors may feel that comma splices are huge errors, while another professor may focus more on spelling or another grammatical errors. Writing center facilitators can help students come up with ideas or lead them in the direction of where to look for inspiration-when they are stuck or have lost steam, or hit a plateau. Studies have shown that going to a universities writing center improves the average students' writing by at least one letter grade. Most professors at FGCU and other institutions alike, point students in the direction of the writing center because they know how important it is to get feedback on works in progress.

Organizations such as the International Writing Centers Association (IWCA), advocate for the widespread use of writing centers (writingcenters.org). They contend that they are important resources for students and professionals alike (writingcenters.org). They also believe that those ...

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...e help without leaving their dorms, which has led to a significant increase in the use of the writing center personnel (Van Horne).

Writing centers are valuable resources for students of all ages, but especially college students. These centers are staffed by highly trained (in most cases), writing facilitators or gurus, that are their to help students learn how to fix their own writing. These professionals know that writing is not a one person game. When a writer is publishing a book, tens of people go through it to locate any errors and/

or reduce the erroneous material. Before a newspaper publishes an article-it goes through a thorough fact checking process, as well as multiple editors to make sure that it is up to par. The writing center is meant to help students correct their writing styles and give them valuable feedback on what they have written.

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