UW–Madison’s Writing Center is like a dentist’s office for essays—and I mean that in the awesomest possible way.
Here’s how it works: you call them up or drop by their location during their business hours and schedule a half-hour appointment:
- Phone: 608-263-1992
- Location: 6171 Helen C. White Hall (the floor down from my office)
- Summer hours: Mon. – Thurs., 10 – 4
You can schedule appointments two weeks ahead, so—hint, hint—you might call Monday morning to schedule appointments for Thursday July 17 (to discuss Essay 3) and for Thursday July 24 (to discuss Essay 4).
When you go there, you’ll meet with a Writing Center instructor (a Ph.D. student in the English department)—the instructor will look at the essay prompt, grading criteria, and your draft, and will help you work through how to make the second draft stronger.
There is no extrinsic reward for going to the Writing Center—it won’t satisfy the Writing Fellows meeting requirement and your essay grade won’t improve automatically because you attended—but the intrinsic rewards are extraordinary: you’ll engage in exactly the sort of in-depth dialog about your writing that all writers need if they want to improve.
I’ve worked at the Writing Center for the last four years, and have taken my writing to instructors there at least twenty times. It’s an exceptional resource staffed by some pretty amazing people (if I do say so myself), and it might be exactly the tool you need to push your writing to a higher level.
Tags: 2008, Writing Center
