Learning Commons

Thank you for seeking information about the Learning Commons. We are keenly aware that the services we offer are most beneficial when we work in concert with faculty and instructors to promote the goals established in the classroom.

Like you, The Learning Commons maintains a focus that is student-centered. Though we work with the specific writing projects writers bring to us, our mission is to help students become effective, independent writers.

We strive to help writers grow as writers by apply new and developing skills in a variety of writing contexts and by exploring the choices they have in different rhetorical contexts. To that end, we will not edit drafts; rather, we offer feedback to writers to help them identify and address areas of concern themselves.

If you would like detailed information about the services The Learning Commons provides, you can read The Learning Commons Writing Services Faculty Guide.

If you would like to refer a writer to the writing center, please feel free to provide us with information about the writer using SuccessNet.

Some ways we can assist you and your student writers:

(Adapted from a list created by The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.)

• No matter what you are teaching, we are available to work with your students.
  
  Since the writing consultants ask questions and offer suggestions which focus on helping writers fully develop the ideas and clearly express the purpose of the draft, we rely on the writers to understand the complexities of the subject matter. As a result, we are capable of working with writers from all disciplines, at all levels, and at any time in the writing process.
  
  
• We can visit your class.
  
  We can discuss our services with your students. We can also offer classroom-based workshops on topics ranging from using citation methods (MLA, APA, CMS, &etc.) to crafting effective paragraphs. Just ask us; we may have already developed a workshop that will fit with your goals.
  
  
• We provide online resources.
  
  The OWL contains a variety of handouts for use as teaching tools or as additional resources for your students, and we are willing to provide access to or help develop additional resources that you feel are beneficial to your student writers.
  
  
• We can work with you on your writing projects.
  
  The Learning Commons staff is made up of undergraduate, graduate, and faculty writers. We are sympathetic readers, and many of us have experience developing course assignments, grant proposals, and material for publication. We can offer you a reader’s perspective, asking questions and offering suggestions that can help you achieve your objective.
  

Some ways you can assist us and your student writers:

• Include information about The Learning Commons on your syllabus.
  
• Schedule a Learning Commons visit to your class.
  
• Encourage writers to visit The Learning Commons at any stage of the writing process.
  
• Utilize the referral form and session report forms as tools for fostering communication throughout the writing process.
  
• Send a copy of your writing assignment(s) to the Learning Commons.