Writing and Speaking Tutorial Services

A: Any NCSU undergraduate student.

A: No, you do not need an appointment. Drop-in services are available in the afternoon at our Park Shops location, and in the evening at residence halls around campus. The table on the front page of this website provides times and locations. *Please remember all drop-sin services are first come, first served.

A: Appointments are made in 30 minutes blocks. You may make 1 hour worth of appointments in a day, and 2 hours worth of appointments in a week.

A: Making an appointment guarantees that you will see a consultants at the appointed time. Making an appoint also gives you more control over how long you would like to work on your writing. If you make an hour of appointments, you know you will get to work for that hour.

Drop-in sessions operate on a first come, first served basis. So, you may have to wait for your session. Also, the length of a drop-in session can vary. If there are other students in line, your drop-in session may be limited to 25-30 minutes.

A:Yes, you may.

A: Your session will be most effective if you bring the following items with you:

Your assignment sheet. - To help us understand what your instructor might want.

A printed copy of the writing on which you would like to work. - It's easier, and faster, to mark up a paper copy. We want to get as much done in our session as possible! If you would like to brainstorm ideas, just bring a clean sheet of paper.

A pen or a pencil. - You will be doing all the marking on your paper. Later, it will help you remember the changes you wanted to make.

A:All memembers of the group must be present to work anything collaboratively written.

A: Only if you have a completed Exam Permission Form from your instructor. We will not work on any exam without one.

A: Our goal is to help you become a better writer. We look at the piece you bring to us in order to help make sure it says what you want it to in the clearest way. During that process we will also help you find patterns of grammatical error, and give you tips to help address those issues when you find them.

A:All sessions are limited to one-hour (50 minutes) in order to ensure that the session remains productive. As with any task, when reviewing writing it's good to work in time chunks that allow you to maintain focus. In a one-hour session it is typically possible to work through 3 - 5 pages of text. If your paper, or presentation is longer, you should plan ahead for multiple sessions.

A: No. Many students bring in application essays for graduate school, professional school, or scholarships. We can also help with cover letters and resumes, but you may find the University Career Center more suited to your needs in those areas.

A: WSTS is staffed by your fellow students, who also need to write and study for their own classes. Closing times are firm.

A: Please encourage your students to take advantage of our service; however, we ask that you do not make it a requirement. WSTS is already a very limited resource, and when a class is required to come they quickly overwhelm the service, making it unavailable to other NCSU students.

Also, students who have been required to visit Writing and Speaking Tutorial Services often become resistent to working on their writing, and do not get as much out of a session as they might otherwise.

A: Please complete an Exam Permission form for your student(s). We will not work with them on a take home exam without your permission. Should you grant your students permission to come to WSTS for a consultation on their take home exam, consultants will follow standard WSTS procedure by emphasizing feed back on clarity, organization, and focus, with attention to patterns of grammatical error.

A:To respect a visitor's privacy we do not automatically send visit reports to instructors. If they need documentation of their visit, writers, or speakers, may request a session report from the consultant.

A: A WSTS session is primarily a conversation. Consultants are trained to ask questions about the assignment, the writer's, or speaker's, goal for the draft, and the writer's, or speaker's, history with writing, or giving presentations. Reading through the draft aloud with the student allows the consultant to provide feedback about clarity, organization, and focus with the goal of giving the writer choices to make about the work. The writer is responsible for making any notes or changes on the paper, so he or she will understand the notes when going back to revise the paper. If the consultant sees a pattern of grammatical errors, he or she will help the student to identify the error, and provide tips for correcting it.

A: Absolutely! Whether you would like to provide your students with a brief introduction to WSTS, or you would like to develop a more in-depth workshop on writing process, revision, peer review, or whatever else you might need, we would be happy to come to your class. Please contact WSTS Coordinator Brandy Grabow at brandy_grabow@ncsu.edu to schedule a visit or workshop.