Writing Center

We offer Face to Face writing support in the Landman Library, Online appointments through Zoom, and Asynchronous appointments (Submit a Draft for Written Feedback).

To make an appointment for any of the services above, head to our Scheduling System through Accudemia. (You must be signed into PortalGuard).

If you have any questions, or cannot find an appointment in our scheduling system, please email us at writingcenter@arcadia.edu. A staff member may reply back asking for information such as course, instructor, assignment, etc. in order to help make the appointment. You'll receive a confirmation email once your appointment is officially scheduled.

The Writing Center provides Arcadia University students, faculty and staff with one-on-one, collaborative guidance on their writing. We work with writers in all disciplines and majors on any assignment and at any stage of the writing process. Through open-ended discussion, writing, and sharing, we help writers to better understand the decisions they make in their writing and to adapt responsibly to a wide variety of writing across the disciplines.

Consultants are faculty-nominated and trained to facilitate critical thinking and discussion about writing. Consultants have also received additional training in working with English language learners, multi-lingual learners, and graduate-level writing assignments. We help writers to:

• Determine audience and purpose for assignments
• Brainstorm/generate ideas for writing
• Develop ideas clearly and fully
• Determine an organization that best suits an audience and purpose
• Refine and sharpen focus and claims
• Critically evaluate and responsibly integrate the voices of other writers into their own writing
• Discover proof-reading strategies that will help them to turn in their best work

During the Covid-19 pandemic, all Writing Center services will be online. We’ve broadened our hours to accommodate changes in students schedules, especially those working or taking care of others during Covid-19. The Writing Center is now open for virtual consultations through Zoom 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, and late mornings through afternoons on Saturdays and Sundays.

All Writing Center consultations will be conducted through Zoom and can be scheduled quickly and easily through WCOnline, our scheduling system. In addition to scheduled virtual sessions, we also offer the following services:

Drop-in Online Sessions

You can now click on a link in the Writing Center schedule to drop-in for a session, even online. If a consultant is available, they can assist you even if you don't have an appointment.

INFO ABOUT DROP-IN ONLINE SESSIONS

Submit a Draft for Written Feedback

Don't have time for a session through Zoom? You can now have a Writing Center consultation asynchronously! Submit your draft on our scheduling system and receive written feedback from one of our trained consultants within 48 hours.

HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR DRAFT

• Set goals for yourself for the session, and share them with the consultant when you visit
• Try going to the Writing Center at different points in the writing process, especially when planning for a bigger paper. Remember, you don't need to have a draft written to come to the Writing Center: consultants can help with brainstorming and planning on writing projects, too.
• Talk openly and honestly with the consultant about where you feel confident in your written work, and where you aren't sure what to do. Consultants are trained to help all writers address what can often be very different challenges in their projects
• Try taking notes in the Writing Center, instead of editing your paper directly during the session. Notes help you to remember why the approaches you developed in the center with your consultant worked, which helps you to remember such approaches for next time.
• During Covid-19, masks are required for face-to-face appointments in the Writing Center. Please remember your mask!

• A webcam, microphone, and a broadband connection allow us to conduct sessions through Zoom. However, these are not required in order to have an online session; sessions can be conducted through chat using the system, and by phone, if necessary.
•  If you are working with a draft in an online session, we recommend sharing a link to your draft in Google Docs with "Edit" access by adding this link into the notes of your appointment. Here are instructions for how to Share a Google Doc using a link. You can also attach your draft to an appointment uising the system, if you prefer.
• Your consultant can still work with you on brainstorming or pre-writing (generating ideas, understanding the assignment) in an online session. Just be sure to indicate this when scheduling your appointment.
• If you experience login problems and/or issues with the online system, please email writingcenter@arcadia.edu, and we’ll respond to you as soon as possible