Online Writing Lab

This space augments the personal service we offer in the Learning Center.  Here you have the opportunity to submit papers for review and ask questions of our professional writing tutors.

What You Do

Answer the questions below, being sure to give us important details about the assignment and to be as specific as possible about the kind of help you need.  Examples off specific questions are "How can I make my thesis stronger?" and "How can I learn to recognize comma splices?"  Questions such as "What's wrong with my paper?" will be returned for further explanation.

What We Do

We are glad to help students who have questions at any stage of the writing process, from brainstorming to final draft.  Though most of our work is with class assignments, we will also give advice on such tasks as resumes and applications.  A professional tutor will respond to your questions within 48 hours.  The tutor will give specific suggestions, hints about effective writing, and further questions for the writer to consider.  These responses may lead to a series of messages between tutor and writer.  When the concerns seem too complex to address effectively through the Online Writing Lab, the tutor will recommend that the writer make an appointment at the Learning Center.

What We Do Not Do

The tutors will not correct or proofread your work.  These are important tasks, but student writers learn little when someone does these tasks.  Nor will we provide content for your papers.  Our job is to bring out the skills and ideas you didn't know you had.  Finally, tutors will not give an overall evaluation of your work or predict grades.

Who We Are

Please read about the writing tutors as well a the rest of the Learning Center Staff on the Learning Center Professional Staff pages.

The copy on this page was borrowed from the corresponding page on the web site of our sister campus Learning Center at Penn State Mont Alto.  They are also the source of the idea of creating an Online Writing Lab.

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revised 08.20.1999 08:42