Writing Center

Ace that Big Paper 

Imagine its Sunday night at 10:30. You log onto your email and notice your English teacher just reminded you of that deadline for tomorrow morning. After taking a few deep breaths you have decided to go get some coffee in order to survive the long night ahead of writing. Your paper starts off alright, but then you come to a point where you can not think of anything else to write.  Many people may have gotten through High School writing assignments with ease, but they quickly learn that in college it is not as easy.  Thankfully for students, Bloomsburg University recognizes this, and they provide students with a way to get help. Located in Bakeless

Center room 206, the writing center welcomes all students needing help with writing assignment.

As I enter the door, the sound of energetic voices burst through the air. The smell of Starbucks coffee, and bananas enter my nose. Large paper snowflakes hang on the window, reminding me just how cold it is outside. The back corner of the room is home to one of those portable office setups. The light gray walls are covered in pencil sketched drawings of what appear to be cats. Underneath the drawings are two photo collages of the most random pictures of animals. Additionally, a huge white board hangs up with what appears to be inspirational and funny quotes from the employees who spend their time in this room. The center of the room is home to six circular tables in which student employees engage in hilarious conversations. At the time I entered, there were no appointments going on. Jessa Wood, one of the employees tells me that they get busier as the semester goes on. "Towards the end of the semester, it is not uncommon for students to be lined up out the door just waiting to get their papers looked at."

Brook Reichenbach is a sophomore at Bloomsburg and has been working for the writing center for about a year now. One of her English teachers recommended this job to her, and she jumped on the opportunity never looking back.  "One of my favorite things about this job is getting to work with the international students," Brook recalled. She loves getting to learn about their culture as she helps them with their papers. Additionally, Brook likes how short her work days are. Being a full time college student, she appreciates only having to work 1-2 hour shifts. Additionally, she loves the feeling of connecting with a writer and seeing them improve. "At the end of the day its a good feeling knowing you helped someone out."  

 Back in middle school my mom would always proofread my papers to see if everything was okay. She never wrote my assignments for me, just merely gave me advise on how to better my grade, and become a better writer.  This is the same approach the writing center employees take when working with students. A typical session consists of a student working one on one with an employee. "To start things off we we usually have the student read us their paper out loud," an energetic Brook tells me. "When students read their work out loud, they often catch a lot of mistakes on their own." In order to help the employees, students should bring the rubric for whatever assignment they are working on. I learn that often times students will write good papers, but forget to include certain details that can be found on the assignment outline. Brook tells me its a huge help when kids come into the center knowing ahead of time what they want to work on. Our goal is to help kids become better writers.

Furthermore, the writing center takes advantage of a program called Blackboard. This is extremely useful for when a student can't make it to the writing center for whatever reason. The program allows employees to have a video chat conference with students who need help on a paper. When setting up an appointment, all you have to do is let the writing center know that an in person meeting isn't possible. With this option, there is really no reason why kids can't get their papers looked at.

Any student wanting to visit the center is recommended to make an appointment. Walk ins are allowed, but they may only work early on in the semester. Appointments can be made by email at buwc@bloomu.edu. After being treated with such great hospitality on my visit, I encourage every student to give the writing a center a shot. With the warm welcoming atmosphere and over friendly employees, whats not to love about the writing center?