Writing Room
The mission of the Writing Room is to provide an open teaching and learning environment for the collaborative discussion of writing so that students may become more aware and independent writers. Writing consultants come from a range of disciplines and are formally trained to provide feedback during all phases of the writing process. The Writing Room is staffed by students. Located in the Humanities and Social Sciences Building, Room 112, the Writing Room is available to students who want to drop-in but appointments are recommended. Our Frequently Asked Questions brochure provides more information.
Fall and Spring Hours of Operation
Monday-Thursday
9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Friday
9:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Handouts
Active and Passive
Verbs
Apostrophes
Argumentative
Essays
Articles:
Indefinite vs. Definite
Identifying Your
Audience
Using the USCA
Writing Room
Commas
Commonly
Confused Words
Comparatives
and Superlatives
Essay Test
Taking Tips
Integrating
Quotations
Paraphrasing
Punctuating
Quotations
Summarizing
Transition
Words
Writing Style Links
USCA Library Style Guides
APA Guide [PDF]
APA Annotated
Bibliography [PDF]
APA Style tips
Chicago Guide [PDF]
The Chicago Manual of Style Q&A
MLA Quick Reference [PDF]
MLA Annotated
Bibliography [PDF]
MLA Style Frequently Asked Questions
Manifesto
We define collaboration as cooperating with one another. In the Writing Room, we strive to maintain a collaborative environment. This manifests itself with the consultant asking questions and offering feedback-not making changes or decisions for you- in order to help you learn.
Examples of Collaboration
* Explaining general grammar and punctuation rules
* Identifying mistakes and helping you correct the mistakes
* Pointing out confusing parts of the paper
Collusion, however is cooperating in fraud. Fraudulent cooperation occurs when the consultant moves from guiding your learning, to doing the work and making decisions for you. You and the consultant must avoid collusion, not only is it a form of academic dishonesty, which violates the USCA Honor Code, but also because it interferes with learning.
Examples of Collusion
* Making corrections for you
* Proofreading/editing
* Doing the assignment for you
Research shows that after thirty minutes in a collaborative process, the collaboration begins to break down and the process begins to shift towards collusion. In order to avoid this, we limit our sessions to thirty minutes.
Our ultimate goal is to improve your understanding and application of the writing process and not simply to fix the paper at hand. While you may be here seeking help with a particular assignment, we cannot guarantee, nor do we try to provide you with an error free paper after visiting the Writing Room.
Junior Writing Portfolio
The Junior Writing Portfolio (JWP) is a graduation requirement that is a collection of three papers from your college career accompanied by a reflective essay. Before submitting your portfolio you may want to visit the Writing Room for a consultation. When you do submit your portfolio bring it to the Writing Room in H&SS 112. Please print out a list of the courses you have taken from VIP to help you correctly fill out the submission form.
JWP Forms
Submission Form
JWP Frequently
Asked Questions
Complete
Portfolio Packet
Assessment
Form
Junior Writing Portfolio: Upcoming
Due Dates
January 28 (Wednesday) for Spring 2009
Useful Links
To visit the USC Aiken English Department, click here.
USC Aiken's Gregg-Graniteville Library:
http://library.usca.edu/Main/HomePage
The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing
http://nutsandbolts.washcoll.edu/
Purdue University's Online Writing Lab:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/general/index.html
The Modern Language Association web site:
http://www.mla.org/
The American Psychological Association Online:
http://www.apastyle.org/elecref.html
The Chicago Manual of Style:
http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/
The Library of Congress' Learning Page: Tips on citing non-print
sources like films, recordings, pictures, and maps.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/start/cite/index.html
Purdue University also offers a general guide to writing research
papers, with advice for doing research on the internet, evaluating
sources, paraphrasing, and writing an annotated bibliography:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/index.html#writing
Eastern Washington University provides this useful tutorial on citing
sources correctly:
http://support.library.ewu.edu/reference/tutorial/flash/citation.html
Dictionary Search
http://www.onelook.com/
