WELCOME to the
As in-person learning has resumed on campus, we at The Writing Center are dedicated to accommodating the widest variety of student needs. In this light, we will continue to offer distance tutoring alongside in-person options for appointments. Simply select the option that best suits you when signing up, and we’ll try to accommodate the request. For any needed instructions on how to navigate the distance learning software such as Zoom or GoogleDocs, click here.
Note: The Writing Center's services are free and available to all LIU Brooklyn students.
how we can help​
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PLANNING
You can bring in your assignment and we’ll help you figure out exactly what’s being asked of you, brainstorm for ideas, come up with a thesis, create an outline, and generate preliminary notes. We can also help you to locate the sources you need for a research paper.
DRAFTING
We can help you get going by asking you questions to prompt your thoughts, show you techniques such as free-writing that help to get the words flowing, and point out where more explanation, details, or examples might be needed. We can also help you to formulate an introduction and a conclusion—particularly difficult tasks for most writers.
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REVISING
We’ll look over your draft with you and talk about how you might re-organize the ideas, create more effective transitions between them, develop ideas that need more support, eliminate repetition, make sure the logic of your argument works, and let you know how well at least one reader—that is, your tutor!—is able to follow your drift, grasp your points, and be persuaded by your argument.
ï‚·PROOFREADING AND EDITING
We’ll show you the best ways to proofread your papers so that you yourself are able to spot and fix
fragments and run-ons, spelling errors, and all sorts of other grammar troublespots. We’ll also show you how to document your sources through in-text citations, create a list of Works Cited, and format your paper properly according to MLA or APA rules.
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READING
Writing Center tutors are also available to help students with reading. Some of the reading issues that students might consult with a tutor about include:
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Understanding exactly what a particular assignment asks for
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Comprehending the material in an assigned text
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Applying relevant material from an assigned reading to a writing assignment
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Developing effective reading strategies; understanding vocabulary
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Figuring out what contextual information you need to know in order to grasp the meaning of a passage in a reading assignment
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Any other reading-related concerns students bring
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RESEARCH
Many students come to the Writing Center with research assignments for their courses. Some parts of the research process our tutors can help you with include:
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Finding a topic that will be manageable, appropriate to the assignment, and interesting to you
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Thinking about what you will need to know in order to complete the assignment
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Identifying, finding, and evaluating appropriate information sources via the Internet, the LIU library online catalogue, electronic databases, and other search vehicles
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Considering the sorts of support/evidence that will be persuasive to particular audiences
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Using paraphrase, quotation, and summary appropriately to convey the content of your sources to your audience
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Synthesizing your information and ideas to achieve a specific purpose
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Citing your work correctly using MLA or APA style
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Identifying and avoiding plagiarism
COMPUTER-ASSISTED TUTORING
During a tutoring session, a tutor may work with a student at a computer to assist in the development of one or more skills—from inserting pagination or using proper MLA or APA format to evaluating websites or utilizing online library databases.
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REFERENCE LIBRARY
Within the Writing Center, we have a complete array of handouts on specific topics as well as books and journals that tackle a variety of subjects. Copies of handouts are available for your use at the Writing Center or, if you are a member of the LIU community, we will gladly forward one to your campus mailing address. To review a book or a journal, feel free to stop into the Center during our regular business hours.
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types of sessions that can be booked​
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1. Weekly Appointments
This is the traditional—and probably the most fruitful—way to use the Writing Center individually. Weekly appointments can currently be scheduled by phone or through this site. Based on the student's and tutors' schedules, they will be matched for a once-a-week, one-on-one, 50-minute tutoring session. Weekly tutorials allow for maximum work on the multiple stages of the writing process for any given paper, from brainstorming and thesis development to developing successful conclusions and proofreading/editing. They also allow for an ongoing relationship to be established between tutor and tutee, with optimal potential for the students growth as a writer over the course of the semester.
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2. One-time Appointments
One-time appointments may be scheduled by phone or through this site up to one week ahead, based on tutor availability.
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3. Walk-in Tutoring
Each semester, the Writing Center schedules a number of walk-in hours (with designated walk-in tutors) which may run any portion of a fifty minute session, beginning at the top of the hour. Students will be seen on a first-come, first-served basis. It is important to emphasize that walk-in hours are not meant to provide a last-minute quick-fix in which the tutor is expected to correct grammatical errors and proofread a student's paper. Just as with regularly scheduled tutorials, a walk-in session is intended to help the student effectively do his/her own work as a writer and to become a better writer.
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4. Peer Writing Groups
In Spring 2010, the Writing Center also began to offer tutor-facilitated peer writing groups. These groups meet for one or more hours per week (as requested) in the Writing Center. Groups, led by a tutor, are composed of 3-5 students who share drafts of each other's work, support each other with helpful feedback for revision, and together gain expertise in close reading of their own and others' written texts. Groups can be formed by clusters of students from particular classes who request such a group, or, alternatively, individuals can ask to be placed in a group with other students at the same level (who are not necessarily enrolled in the same section of a class). To sign up for membership in a student writing group, fill out the registration form here or give us a call.
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5. Student Writing Group Project (SWGP)
By arrangement with course instructors, the Writing Center Director and clusters of Writing Center tutors visit classes to train students in writing workshop methods and to facilitate workshop groups. Usually, the Writing Center Director or an experienced group tutor leads a first 'full-class workshop,' in which students, course faculty, and newer tutors all focus, in depth, on one or more student papers. As students begin to familiarize themselves with strategies for close critique of written work, they proceed to break into small groups of 3-5 students, each led by a Writing Center tutor, so that these strategies may be applied to the paper of every student. Upon request from the course instructor, tutors can come to class to lead further small-group writing workshop sessions during the semester. When desired, these are supplemented or followed up by small-group workshops in the Writing Center. (See "Peer Writing Groups," above.)
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6. Night Owl Sessions
To better accommodate students whose schedules do not fit within normal Writing Center hours or for those working late into the night that have gotten stuck with a burning question, these sessions provide support. Hosted by a Writing Center moderator, a pair of late night tutors are available for this test-run service to pair off with any students who should happen to drop in. Some nights, a research librarian may also be present to assist students with specific research-based questions. No prior appointment is necessary, and sessions are available on a first come, first served basis. Interested students can join Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 8:00 PM - Midnight by following the link here.
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7. Writing Workshops
Groups workshop sessions, taught by experienced Writing Center tutors, provide insight, tips and tricks on specific topics of interest that students often voice a desire to learn more about. Topics on areas ranging from thesis formulation to resumes, are announced ahead of time and these workshops occur on a bi-monthly basis. See the schedule for upcoming workshops here.
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Our Student-Centered Approach​
Tutoring sessions are driven by what each student identifies as his or her needs. At the beginning of each meeting, tutors and writers negotiate goals and a workable agenda for the session. Tutors guide students to better understand their strengths and weaknesses as writers and offer strategies for improvement.
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Our goal is not just to help you create a better paper one time, but rather, to help you become a better writer over time. That’s why we work with you, through all stages of the writing process, to develop the skills and resources you need to be a successful college reader and writer.​