UM writing center offers workshops

JOY DOUGLAS
DM Staff Writer

The University Writing Center is offering a series of nine skills building workshops beginning Tuesday.

The workshops will be held at 7 p.m. every Tuesday until Nov. 28 and range from basic word processing to literary analysis. The Center is located in room 106 of Kinard Hall.

All students are invited and encouraged to attend these seminars. The first workshop will be for polishing writing, grammar, proofreading and basic word processing skills.

Brenda Robertson, director of the Writing Center, said the program would be beneficial.

"This is important because we have so many students who don't know how to use word processing (programs) effectively," Robertston said.

Students do not need to register for these workshops and there is no charge.

Seven graduate workshops are also being offered. These workshops will meet on Thursday at 7 p.m. until Nov. 30. The center asks that students who wish to attend the graduate workshops register by e-mailing writingc@olemiss.edu.

These workshops are part of the Writing Center's purpose to "make sure that writers, and not necessarily their texts, are what get changed by instruction." They were started two years ago and usually have a good response from students. A complete listing of the offered seminars can be found at the center's Web site, www.olemiss.edu/depts/writing_center" or at the Writing Center.

Student parking is allowed at the Center. It has 31 Macintosh computers and two new PC's. Students can make copies or laser print outs for ten cents and, if they don't have a dime, a draft printer is available that costs nothing to use.

The center offers consultations to any student. A consultation is a 20 to 30-minute session where student writers can receive suggestions concerning development of ideas, audience consideration, organization, stylistic concerns, grammar and document presentation.

Consultants are usually upperclassmen primarily from the McDonnell-Barksdale Honors College. They do not correct papers, rather they help writers develop any unclear ideas in a paper, organize papers more concisely, and rethink grammar and stylistic problems.

"We can help [students] with any kind of language problem, oral or written. We can help them design documents to make effective arguments," Robertson said.

Freshman consultant, Jordan Hooper said students who come to the Center "want a different perspective on their writing to help with grammar, organization and other problems they may be having." During a consultation, the consultant and student ask one another questions concerning the work and try to find the best answers to those questions.

The center is not focused on correcting papers and does not offer a paper correction service. The staff at the center works with students to correct papers and to help students understand the reason certain corrections need to be made.

Harold Moman, a senior, is a consultant.

"We offer them insights that will hopefully make them better writers and make their papers more appealing," Moman said.

The Center is opened 67 hours a week with at least two student consultants present at all times. The hours of operation are: Sunday - 2 p.m to 10 p.m., Monday through Thursday - 9 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Fridays 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. An appointment for consultation is recommended, but walk-ins are welcomed.lems or who wants to improve their writing skills.