Hi Writers!
We have almost made it to finals week! If you need any last minute assistance on any writing assignments, our hours for finals week are:
Monday 5/4: 12pm – 8pm (Closed 2:15-3:15 for team meeting)
Tuesday 5/5: 12pm – 8pm
Wednesday 5/6 12pm – 4pm
Good luck on finals, and be sure to finish strong, Marauders!
~Cameron
Hi, writers!
We’re getting SO close to the end of our Spring 2026 semester (those sunny, summer days are right around the corner). With so many projects, essays, and assignments to do, the Writing Center is an excellent resource to help mitigate your stress and amp up your work. We are open all week, Monday-Thursday from 12-8 pm and Friday from 12-4 pm. Hope to see you around!
~ Lauren
It probably comes as no surprise that our tutors love to read and write. But have you ever wondered our tutor’s favorite genre’s of writing are?
So those are some of our tutor’s favorite genre’s of writing, what are your favorite genres of writing?
Are movies EVER better than the books? Let’s see what our tutors think…
33% of our tutors who responded say…YES!
33% of our tutors say…sometimes?
And only 33% of our tutors say…NO!
Let’s hear their arguments…
Our tutors are torn, but do you believe movies are better than the books? Which ones are?
~ Lauren
If our Writing Center tutors could be any book character…who would they be?
Pierce says he would probably be Winnie the Pooh. It’s unclear whether he said this because Pooh gets to live a life as a snuggly, laid-back bear, or if it’s because Pierce is just so lovable, too.
Mandi says she would be Belle from Beauty and the Beast. She would look beautiful in Belle’s big yellow dress! Mandi is also a bookworm who’s sweet and caring, just like Belle, so she’s basically Belle already.
Rhia, one of our student managers, would be Belly Conklin from The Summer I Turned Pretty. Belly is a very romantic dreamer. This may be Rhia, or maybe she’s just so enthralled by the Fisher brothers’ love triangle! A page turner, for sure.
Ari says they would be Olive Smith from The Love Hypothesis because they’re just such a hopeless romantic!
Cam says they would be Winnie the Pooh or Christopher Robin, but since Pierce already claimed Winnie, Cam could be his human companion in the story of Winnie the Pooh! Besties!
Finally, Lauren says she would be Katniss Everdeen (a.k.a me). I would be Katniss because of my fierce bravery…except I’m not fiercely brave, I just wish I could be as awesome as Katniss is.
If you could be any book character, who would you be? Why?
~ Lauren
Doubting your ideas, capabilities, and strengths is very normal, whether you’re a professional or academic writer. However, where this becomes a problem is when it hinders your motivation and ability to complete your work. I would like to share some insights about tips and tricks that work for me to push past the barriers that I often create for myself 🙂
My biggest takeaway, I hope you all get from this, is that your trust in your own abilities matters more than anything. If you ever feel doubtful, come on over to the Writing Center for some positive and constructive feedback on any writing you worked on!
~ Lauren
Hi writers!
We’re gearing up to head into Spring Break. Sadly, the Writing Center is not open over Spring Break, but come see us before we close for break to get all those midterm papers checked on!
Our hours for the remainder of the week are:
The Writing Center wishes you a relaxing Spring Break 🙂
~ Lauren
Hi everyone!
Now that you have gathered your sources, written your outline, and formatted your in text citations, it’s time to finally draft your paper! This may feel like one of the most daunting steps in the writing process, but with all of the prep work that we’ve done beforehand, it should go smoothly! Before we get right into drafting the paper, let’s discuss what some of the elements we have gathered thus far will become:
Gathering Research:
Your research should have been one of the biggest factors in creating your outline. This research will be used to prove that there is evidence to support whatever claim you are making in your topic sentence.
Choosing a topic:
Your topic is the entire backbone of your paper. This topic will be the main organizing principle in your paper which will be used to guide the focus of your paper. This topic will also be the backbone of your thesis statement.
Creating a Thesis Statement:
Your thesis statement should house the point that you are trying to prove in your paper. This will be housed in your introduction paragraph, and referenced throughout your paper with every point that you make. Your outline will then contain all of the pieces of evidence you will use to prove the point made in your thesis.
Creating an outline:
Your outline will contain all of the points of evidence you are going to use to to prove your thesis statement. This will contain the bulk of the content of your paper.
So how does all of this come together to create a research paper draft?
First, you will want to write your introduction paragraph. This should start off with a hook. Your hook should be a bit more broad than your topic and be used to grab your reader’s attention. Think about your audience when drafting out an appropriate hook. Then, you will want to introduce your topic. This is where you want to work towards introducing your topic to your reader. Don’t get super specific to your argument here, as this going into the third step. The third step is writing your thesis statement. This is where you get very specific to your paper and state the argument that you are going to spend the rest of the paper proving. See this image if you need this explained a little bit more of a visual manner:
Body:
The body of your research paper is where the bulk of your work will go, however, you’ve already done most of the work! This is where your outline will come into play. All you will need to do is:
once you have finished the body of your research paper, the hard part is over! All that’s left is to write a conclusion, and create your references or works cited page.
Writing a Conclusion:
Your conclusion paragraph should wrap all any unfinished points in your paper, and draw your paper into a finished point. Think of it like the gift wrap around a wrapped present, neatly tying everything together in a neat little bow. Make sure that you restate your thesis in the conclusion as well. One thing to be wary of is that conclusion paragraphs should NEVER introduce new information!
Creating a Works Cited, References, or Bibliography page.
Once you have finished the rest of your paper, the final step is to create a references, or works cited page. If your paper uses MLA formatting, this will be a Works Cited page. If your paper uses APA formatting, this will be a References page. If your paper uses Chicago formattting, this will be a Bibliography Page. For more information on each, follow these links:
Always remember that whichever formatting you are using, your Works Cited, References, or Bibliography page should always be on it’s own page!
Once you tackle that, you have officially completed the draft of your research paper! At this stage, you would want to revise, edit, and peer review your paper. This is one of the many stages that the Writing Center would be a great help to you! As always, feel free to walk in, or make an appointment in person at the Writing Center, asynchronously online through our email, or online through Zoom!
Happy Writing!
~Cameron
Now it’s time to cite your sources (so dreadful). BUT, when you know what information you’re looking for to cite and in what order, it really doesn’t have to be as terrible as it seems. Here is the Writing Center’s guide to MLA and APA citations 🙂
(Author’s name, page number)
(Author’s name) *IF YOU SAID THE PAGE NUMBER IN THE QUOTE.
(Page number) *IF YOU SAID THE AUTHOR IN THE QUOTE.
(Author’s name, date)
(Author’s name) *IF YOU SAID THE DATE IN THE QUOTE.
(Date) *IF YOU SAID THE AUTHOR IN THE QUOTE.
Books:
Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. City of Publication, Publisher, Publication Date.
Periodicals:
Author(s). “Title of Article.” Title of Journal, Volume, Issue, Year, pages.
Websites:
Author(s). “Title of Webpage.” Title of Website, Publisher, Publication Date, URL or DOI.
Books:
Last Name, Initial. (Publication Date). Title of book. Publisher.
Periodicals:
Last Name, Initial. (Publication Date). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume number(issue number), pages.
Websites:
Last Name, Initials. (Year, Month Date) Title of webpage. Site name. URL
~
Also, I use EasyBib as a great citation source generator. It’s just very important, because EasyBib isn’t always 100% accurate, that you can locate all the necessary information you need in your citation.
Happy citing!!!
~ Lauren
Hi Everyone!
Once you have chosen a topic, gathered information, and written a thesis statement, the next step towards completing a research paper is typically drafting an outline! Outlines are very beneficial to writing and they make the process of drafting your final paper a lot easier. Some additional benefits to creating an outline include:
So, how do you go about creating an outline? First, you want to determine the purpose of your paper. Next, consider who is the audience you are writing for? And finally, developing your thesis, which you should hopefully have already done! Then,
Keep in mind, creating an outline before writing your paper will make organization a lot easier. Weather you follow the guidelines listed above exactly, or modify it however may work for you, it will be beneficial to your writing process. Also, it will make drafting your paper in general much, much easier!
Happy outline writing!
~Cameron