The Writing Center, under the direction of the English Department, assists students in improving their reading and writing skills in all subject areas. In helping students articulate their ideas and fulfill their potential as learners, our tutors provide meaningful feedback, guidance, and encouragement rather than direct instruction.

We take a holistic approach to this process. It begins with our conception of the role of the tutor as a member of a learning community. Rather than serving merely as editor or proofreader, the tutor engages students in the kind of questions that will lead them to think more deeply about their assignments and about the craft of writing.

The Writing Center is available for two types of consultation. The most common form is the regularly scheduled weekly appointment, which provides students in writing-intensive courses with continuous feedback and reinforcement. In addition, several hours a day are devoted to walk-in visits, when students needing help on a specific assignment are seen on a first-come, first-served basis.

We also offer conversation workshops, in which ESL students can work on their speaking and listening skills; writing fundamental workshops, in which students can brush up on such matters as grammar, punctuation, and formatting; and tutorial workshops, in which students who have completed all available remedial courses can continue to receive assistance in trying to pass their writing and/or reading assessment tests.

All students are encouraged to understand and experience writing as a process, and our tutors are trained to help students at all stages of that process—from brainstorming ideas to revising and editing drafts. Revision is often the stage at which students need the most help. Students are urged, through questioning and self-reflection, to expand on their ideas and to express them with clarity and precision. It is our hope that over time, such reflection will become an intellectual habit—a skill that students will carry into all of their college work and their professional life beyond college. Ideally, a tutor should not become a crutch on which tutees lean, but rather a guide to a path of self-sufficient intellectual inquiry.

With that goal in mind, we realize that even students who have achieved such self-sufficiency might require feedback and guidance from a tutor acting as a second pair of eyes and ears. With a heightened awareness about language and its impact, tutees are empowered to clarify their own writing, as well as their habits of thought. At every level, we see writing as a social activity: a collaboration between one writer and another, and a dynamic relationship between writer and audience.

 

Fall 2015 Writing Center Schedule

Contact us: 718.982.3635 • Building 2S, Room 216

 

Hours of Operation:

-Mondays through Thursdays: 9:10am to 6:20pm

-Fridays 10:10am to 5:20pm

 

Drop-in Hours

-Mondays: 11:10am to 12:05pm/1:10pm to 2:00pm/3:30pm to 4:25pm

-Tuesdays: 10:10am to 11:05am/12:10pm to 1:05pm/2:30pm to 4:25pm/5:30pm to 6:20pm

-Wednesdays: 10:10am to 11:05am/12:10pm to 1:05pm/2:30pm to 3:25pm

-Thursdays: 11:10am to 12:05pm/2:30pm to 5:25pm

-Fridays: 10:10am to 11:05am/2:30pm to 3:25pm/4:30pm to 5:20pm

 

Writing Fundamentals Workshop

• Wednesdays: 1:20pm to 2:25pm

-Thursdays: 3:30pm to 4:25pm

 

Conversation Workshop

-Wednesdays: 1:10pm to 2:10pm

-Thursdays: 1:10pm to 2:10pm