Where is the QWC?
Do I have to make an appointment?
What happens during a normal appointment?
What should I bring with me?
I need to turn this in this afternoon. Can someone look it over for me?
I have a quick question. Can I just drop in?
What happens if I have to cancel an appointment?
Do I have to have a finished draft with me?
Can you proofread my paper for me?
How many appointments can I have per day? How many appointments can I have
per week? How many times can I get help with the same paper?
What kinds of appointments does the QWC offer?
How can the QWC help me prepare for the Advanced Comp Exam?
Can I borrow grammar and style books from the QWC?
The main office of the QWC is in 315 Kimpel Hall, but our tutors also work in our Mullins Library Satellite. Click here for more information on how to find these locations.
No, but most students do make appointments to see graduate tutors on our Web-based scheduler. Although the tutors stay booked most of the time, students are always welcome to drop by the center to see if a tutor is available for walk-in help.
No appointment is necessary to work with undergraduate peer tutors in Mullins. Peer tutors see all students on walk-in basis for help with Comp I and Comp II assignments.
What happens during a writing conference depends on you, the writer, and on the kind of project you’re working on. However, most appointments do follow a similar format.
First, your tutor will ask you some questions such as:
• What are you working on? When do you hope to complete the project?
• What would you like to work on today?
• Are there any parts of writing that are especially hard for you?
The next part of the conference will depend on where you are in the project. If you’re just starting, your tutor will work with you to brainstorm ideas. The two of you might also work on outlining your paper. Your tutor will ask you questions about which of your ideas you want to explain first, second, and so on, and a little bit about why you think that order will work best. If you have a written a complete draft, the tutor will read what you have written, or you may choose to read it out loud. Together, you’ll discuss the work as a whole. Does it make sense? Is it organized logically? Have you provided enough support for your ideas? Where will the paper go next? If you are pleased with the paper’s overall logic and decide that you have developed your ideas fully, your tutor may help you to identify patterns of grammatical error in your work. He or she can explain to you how to correct your own grammatical errors and avoid making similar mistakes in the future.
We suggest that you bring the assignment description or guidelines from your instructor; outside sources, such as books and articles, that you’ve used or plan to use; notes you’ve taken for the project; and brainstorming, outlining, or drafting work you have already completed.
You are welcome to work with a QWC tutor at any point in the writing process. However, QWC tutors work with students on large concerns such as organization, argumentation, and development; we do not proofread papers or fix grammatical errors. Revising a paper to improve its logic and thoroughness takes time. Please allow time for meaningful revision between your writing conference and the deadline for submitting your paper.
You may drop into the QWC to ask a quick question, but we cannot guarantee that a tutor will be available to assist you. Remember, you can always check tutor availability from any computer by logging on to our Web-based scheduler.
If you are working on a paper for Comp I or Comp II, you can use our walk-in peer tutoring service. Click here for more information about peer tutoring.
Cancelling an appointment is done through the scheduler. Log on and follow the instructions for cancelling an appointment, posted above the schedule. If you have any problems cancelling, please call us at 575-6747. Taking care to cancel appointments is important, because our system keeps track of no-shows. Three no-shows in a semester will result in suspension of privileges.
No. QWC tutors are happy to help you at any stage of the writing process. You can visit us before you’ve begun writing for help understanding an assignment, searching for sources, brainstorming, and planning your work.
It is a good idea, though, to bring whatever materials you have already collected or created for your project. These materials might include an assignment description or guidelines from your instructor; outside sources, such as books and articles, that you’ve used or plan to use; notes you’ve taken for the project; and brainstorming, outlining, or drafting work you have already completed.
QWC tutors will not proofread your work. Doing so would be a violation of the University of Arkansas’s Code of Academic Honesty. Sentence-level correctness isn’t all of skillful writing, but it’s part of it, and having a tutor rewrite your work would misrepresent your abilities as a writer. The QWC takes care to maintain the trust placed in us by instructors. We guarantee that you will leave the QWC having accomplished work that reflects your own ideas and writing skills.
However, we are more than happy to examine your work for patterns of error and teach you how to correct and avoid those errors in the future. We also provide a number of quick guides to individual grammatical concerns, such as parallelism and comma use. You can find these handouts in the Center itself (315 Kimpel Hall) and on our website under “Resources for Students.”
You can have one 30-minute or one 60-minute appointment per day, and three appointments total per week.
You can submit your response to the same assignment up to three times. You must make changes to the document between meetings, and you cannot submit the same version of a document to more than one tutor. If you are working with a tutor on your thesis or dissertation, please discuss this concern with your tutor during your initial meeting.
The QWC offers both face-to-face and online tutorials. In a face-to-face tutorial, you can work with a tutor on almost any writing-related issue, including brainstorming, planning, and searching for sources. You and your tutor can have a conversation about your ideas and how to get your paper to convey them.
Although the online tutorial offers you convenience, it’s not as productive as a face-to-face appointment when you need help brainstorming, interpreting an assignment, or working on extensive grammar issues. An online appointment may work well if you want feedback on the organization, coherence, or persuasiveness of a draft.
The QWC offers a workshop several times each semester that helps students prepare for the Advanced Comp Exam. These workshops cover the exam format, approaches to writing a successful argumentative synthesis, test-taking strategies, and Testing Services’ grading rubric.
In addition to the workshop, the QWC has a variety of handouts and two practice exams that students can use to prepare. They are available in 315 Kimpel Hall and at the “Resources for Students” link on our website. To make the best use of these resources, complete one or both of the practice exams and then make an appointment with a tutor to discuss ways in which you can improve your work.
Please note that Testing Services, not the QWC, administers the exam. If you have administrative questions about the test, including how and where to register, call Testing Services at 575-3948 or visit their website.
You may sit in the QWC and use our books, but you may not take them out of the center with you. However, we offer more than forty handouts that you can take home with you. They cover diverse grammatical and rhetorical topics such as comma use, developing a resume, and citing sources in a variety of styles. You can pick up copies of these documents in 315 Kimpel Hall, or download them here.