1. What
is the Writing Centre? The foundation of the
Writing Centre
is one-to-one appointments in which students receive professional writing
instruction.
2. Who
can use the Writing Centre?
StFX students on campus from all disciplines
and all years of study
Students registered for a StFX course by distance
StFX students registered in distance programs such as Nursing, Master of Adult Education, and Master's of Education
3. I am registered in a StFX distance program. How can the Writing Centre help me?
Whether you are on campus for a program module or back home, a Writing Centre instructor can offer advise as aspects of writing and style for your distance course assignments. Many distance students have been away from the rigours of academic writing for a number of years; they access the Writing Centre to refresh their critical thinking and analytical skills and hone their writing and documenting styles. While you are on campus, we encourage you to visit the Writing Centre and meet with an instructor. Once you return home, you can work with an instructor through e-mail.
4. How does the service work for distance papers?
One-to-one appointments are free of charge to all StFX students.
You can book up to five appointments per term depending upon availability. The terms are May to August, September to December, and January to April.
Contact the director, Nancy Marenick, at 902-867-3897 or writingc@stfx.ca at least two weeks before your paper or assignment is due. During Writing Centre peak weeks (October, November, March, and April more lead time is necessary. Nancy will arrange an appointment with an instructor according to availability.
E-mail a portion of an assignment to us. In an appointment we can generally look at a few pages, one small section or a paper, or about 10 annotations.
Although Writing Centre appointments are 45-minutes long, we may allot 60 minutes for a distance appointment, because written communication is slower than face-to-face exchanges.
The instructor makes comments on the electronic version of your paper using the "track changes" function in Microsoft Word (2003), and e-mails it back to you.
If you are unfamiliar with track changes, click on the "?" symbol for Microsoft Word help.
If you are using the new Word 10 version, please save your work as a 2003 Word file and send us that version. Click on "File," then "Save as." Near the bottom of this window find: "Save as type." Use the down arrow to choose Word 2003. We have had a number of non-compatability issues between the two versions of the program.
Another option is to copy your work and paste it directly into an e-mail.
We also can use track changes with Corel Word Perfect10.
5. At
what stage can I come to the Writing Centre?
You
can contact the Writing Centre at any stage
in the writing process, as long as you have done some research on your
topic. Instructors often work with students at the initial stage of an
assignment to help them brainstorm a topic, create an outline, or draft
a thesis statement. These early appointments often lead to better products because you start off on the right foot.
As with all appointments, you are expected to learn from the grammatical and academic style suggestions instructors make, and apply them to the remainder of your paper. Once you have revised your paper, we can make comments on a second draft, or a different section of the same paper, but we will not comment again on recurring errors.
6. Why can't my whole paper or assignment be proofread or edited at the Writing Centre?
.The
Writing Centre
is not a “paper
repair shop” that inspects and repairs papers.
Instead, Writing
Centre
instructors strive to help you become better
critical thinkers and self-editors.
Instructors comment on academic essay structure and documentation styles. They may highlight
patterns of grammatical errors and writing mechanics, but only in the interests of improving the flow of ideas in your essay. Gillespie and Lerner (2003) describe this perfectly: instructors "don't fix texts; we teach writers how to fix texts. We don't tell writers what to write; we ask questions about and react as readers to what writers have already written or are thinking of writing" (22).
8. Are
you open during intersession and summer school? Yes.
The centre is open all year; however, we have fewer instructors available
from the first of May to the end of August.
9. What
are the hours of the Writing
Centre?
Monday
to Friday,
8:30 am to 5pm
(closed
from 12-1)
10. Can
I make all of my appointments with the same instructor?
This is not always possible. We
understand the value of continuity, but it is helpful for you to receive
feedback from different instructors.
11. What kind of written work cannot be taken to the Writing Centre?
Take-home exams: Unlike papers and assignments, which are part of the continuing writing/learning process, exams are evaluative tools and should reflect the student's knowledge of the subject at that time. Any assignment during the exam period is considered part of exam evaluation.
Distance papers from other institutions: Courses, which StFX students take from other institutions (e.g., Athabasca), are not part of the Writing Centre's mandate. Most distance services offer support and the students should take advantage of that support.
Documentation assignments (e.g. APA style assignments)
Résumés, employment applications, and cover letters (see the StFX Centre for
Webmail