Reading and Writing Center

Our Mission

The mission of the Reading and Writing Center at RCC is to provide reading and writing support to anyone who seeks it, to be a resource for faculty who wish to use writing in their classrooms, and to be a source of life-long learning for the wider community.

Our view that writing is an expression of thinking that is facilitated by collaborative dialogue informs the way our staff is trained and the way our services are delivered. It is our goal to help students become more confident, comfortable and effective writers. To that end we treat each person as a unique individual with a story to tell in a unique voice.

Through their interactions with our writing specialists and peer tutors, students will participate in open dialogues about their own individual writing issues.

Writing is a complex process that benefits from consistent feedback. Therefore, we encourage students to seek consultations at any of the following points where the process becomes difficult for them: understanding the assignment, generating ideas, crafting a thesis, drafting, organizing, revising, addressing issues of sentence structure, grammar and punctuation, or documenting sources. We try to forge intellectual partnerships to work on specific assignments, to increase confidence and improve overall writing performance. We believe that it is important to be good listeners, sensitive to the student’s needs, and to develop a rapport that will create an atmosphere of mutual respect.

Expectations

1. Your tutor will introduce themselves and help you log-in.
2. Your tutor will ask you where you would like to work in the RWC and what you would like to work on during the session
3. Your tutor will ask to see the assignment or essay prompt (if applicable).
4. Your tutor will ask you to read the paper aloud, or if you would prefer not to, your tutor will read your paper out loud for you.
5. Your tutor will ask you questions as a reader and take notes during the session.
6. If you need help with spelling, punctuation, grammatical errors, sentence structure, organization or citation your tutor will assist you in identifying these issues and lead you to resources that you can use both during and after the session.
7. Your tutor will help you log-out and show you how to make a follow-up appointment if necessary.
8. Your tutor will write a report after the session documenting what you covered.

How can I get help?

Because of our limited resources, we can only offer each student one appointment (one hour) per week.

You can walk in for assistance with your writing needs without an appointment during the Writing Center’s hours of operation; however, the availability of assistance depends on the availability of a tutor. If all tutors are working with students, you may have to wait or come back another time.

Therefore, we strongly encourage you to schedule an appointment ahead of time. You can sign up for tutoring by coming to the writing center during our hours of operation or by e-mailing [email protected] or calling us (845-574-4790).

You do not need your teacher’s permission to use the writing center, nor are you required to report to your teacher that you have used our service. However, it’s a good idea to keep your teacher informed of the effort you’re making in improving your writing skills outside the classroom.

Many students think that it costs them extra money to use our service, but this is not true! We offer free service to our students and the community at large.

Types of Service the Writing Center Offers

We provide individualized assistance to students in helping them:

• Understand a writing assignment
• Brainstorm for an essay outline
• Proofread the rough draft of an essay
• Enhance skills in grammar and correct usage
• Strengthen research skills

We give personal support to our faculty and can assist them in:

• Drafting a writing assignment
• Revising an existing writing assignment
• Finding ways to incorporate writing into their curriculum

Types of Services the Writing Center DOES NOT offer

• We do not proofread a student’s paper;
• We do not do a re-write for a student.
• We do not produce A papers.
• We do not help students with take home exams without specific instructions from the professor.

We hope that students will understand that they may not leave the Writing Center with their papers totally “fixed” or “corrected” because we cannot do that for them. We can help them learn how to do that on their own, and will work with them for as many visits as they’d like. Since writing is complex, it is up to a student to learn how to be a writer. Further, we make sure not to take their paper and do things for them because those papers are going to be assessed by their professors. It’s important that the faculty have confidence in us and the service we offer, that they know when students come, they get help, but not a ghost rewrite. (Source: Nick Carbone, Colorado State University)

Handouts

The RCC Writing Center offers a wide variety of handouts on many aspects of the writing process, including grammar, punctuation, how to begin a research paper, and how to structure a paragraph. These handouts are available in the Center, but you can also download them here:

• The Parts of Speech and How to Use Them
• Fixing Fragments and Run-On Sentences
• Proper Use of Commas
• Creating Strong Paragraphs (aka. the MEAL plan)
• How to Start a Research Paper

Links

The Purdue Online Writing Lab

Hosted by Purdue University, the OWL is the best online resource for general writing needs. It includes invaluable information on how to cite sources according to both the APA and MLA styles. It also offers grammar lessons, tips on how to write resumes and cover letters, and other information.

RCC Library’s APA Style Guide
RCC Library’s MLA Style Guide

Produced by our own library, these handouts will help you to document your sources according to the APA or MLA system.

The UW-Madison Writer’s Handbook

This resource contains information on source documentation, grammar and punctuation, and the basic genre expectations for a wide variety of writing assignments.

The Georgia Southern University Writing Center

This resource contains handouts on everything from developing a thesis to improving one’s grammar.