The Mississippi State University Writing Center, a free service with three locations on campus, is available to assist all MSU students, faculty and staff with any concerns they have while completing a writing assignment.
English lecturer Chelsea Henshaw said the Writing Center is available for any assignment that involves writing, not just for those in English courses.
“We can help with any writing that pertains to a student’s academic or professional goals,” she said. “I’ve worked with students ranging from freshmen with English composition papers to a graduate student composing a thank you letter to his professor who wrote his recommendation letters.”
English teaching assistant and Writing Center tutor Lisa Fulgham said the tutors in the center can help clients with any stage of the writing process.
“We can guide students as they formulate paper ideas, create a thesis, revise paper drafts and edit,” she said.
Henshaw said she thinks it is important for students to know the Writing Center is for improving a student’s writing skill, not to have an essay proofread.
“A student cannot simply drop off a paper to be edited,” she said. “A typical Writing Center session involves the client and tutor discussing the paper through elements of rhetoric and composition.”
She said many people do not realize that the Writing Center staff is not comprised of peer tutors like many universities, but all 23 tutors have been trained by the English department to work with students.
“Every tutor is either a teacher in the English department or a graduate teaching assistant who has taken a Writing Center tutoring course at MSU,” Henshaw said.
Director of the Writing Center Sarah Sneed said beginning in this year’s summer sessions, students will find the main Writing Center location in the Harpole house, a white house adjacent to Allen Hall, while Lee Hall undergoes renovations.
In addition to the Writing Center’s main location in Lee 200, the center has recently expanded to include a location in the Templeton building near Humphrey Coliseum and a mobile Writing Center located in the Colvard Student Union.
English lecturer Dan White said he thinks the addition of the Templeton location during the lunch hours for the Real Food on Campus dining room will help the writing center become accessible to more students.
Fulgham said the mobile writing center, located across from the Dawghouse in the union, is a resource for students with small questions or no writing center appointment.
“It is perfect for the busy student. One can receive help on a paper and pick up some Panda Express at the same time,” she said.
Henshaw said unlike the other locations, sessions with a mobile writing center tutor typically last less than 15 minutes. Since students cannot schedule appointments for the mobile center, it runs on a drop-in policy and is more relaxed than the other locations.
“Students can use the mobile unit to its full potential by actually stopping by with any question they have. Even if a student stops by the mobile (Writing Center) for just five minutes before dinner, we can help him or her be a more successful writer,” she said
White said there is also an online writing center available to distance learning students, but the department hopes to expand the online services to all students in the future.