Writing Center adds hours, space
Russ Pohl
Issue date: 10/1/09 Section: News
The Hillsdale College Writing Center, which aims to help students with critical thinking skills and paper writing, has made a few changes to better accommodate students during the 2009-2010 school year.
The program has relocated to the Douglas H. Hawkins Center for Academic Services, located downstairs in the old Knorr Student Center. The program also has extended its hours of operation to Monday through Thursday, from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Morning hours are also available to students on weekdays. Patricia Corboy, house director of The Suites, is the system's new coordinator.
Justin Jackson, assistant professor of English and faculty adviser to the Writing Center, says the changes to the program will help it better accomplish its mission.
"The purpose of the Writing Center is to help students become better writers," Jackson said. "In doing that we help them through the entire writing process by making them question their own work and think through their own papers. I should say we use a lot of Socratic questioning."
With the expanded hours, Jackson was able to hire more tutors for the program. The tutors are students selected by Jackson who display good writing skills and have "inclinations towards editing and revision in their own work."
The new location also allows for better one-on-one attention and for the program to set its own hours of operation.
"Before we had our own space the program felt more like writing tutorials in a classroom." Jackson said. "The new location helps us better help students with more personal help on their writings" and the expanded hours "gives students more opportunities to make use of the Writing Center."
Freshman Emma Smith, who went to the Writing Center for help on a paper for her Western Heritage class, experienced how the new Writing Center operates.
"They were very nice and happy to see that I came in for help, but it didn't seem they were interested in telling me what was wrong with my paper so much as telling me to think about it," Smith said.
The program has relocated to the Douglas H. Hawkins Center for Academic Services, located downstairs in the old Knorr Student Center. The program also has extended its hours of operation to Monday through Thursday, from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Morning hours are also available to students on weekdays. Patricia Corboy, house director of The Suites, is the system's new coordinator.
Justin Jackson, assistant professor of English and faculty adviser to the Writing Center, says the changes to the program will help it better accomplish its mission.
"The purpose of the Writing Center is to help students become better writers," Jackson said. "In doing that we help them through the entire writing process by making them question their own work and think through their own papers. I should say we use a lot of Socratic questioning."
With the expanded hours, Jackson was able to hire more tutors for the program. The tutors are students selected by Jackson who display good writing skills and have "inclinations towards editing and revision in their own work."
The new location also allows for better one-on-one attention and for the program to set its own hours of operation.
"Before we had our own space the program felt more like writing tutorials in a classroom." Jackson said. "The new location helps us better help students with more personal help on their writings" and the expanded hours "gives students more opportunities to make use of the Writing Center."
Freshman Emma Smith, who went to the Writing Center for help on a paper for her Western Heritage class, experienced how the new Writing Center operates.
"They were very nice and happy to see that I came in for help, but it didn't seem they were interested in telling me what was wrong with my paper so much as telling me to think about it," Smith said.
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