Improve Your Writing and Public Speaking
You’ll find a variety of assistance through the Writing Center! We have consultants available to help you with your writing assignments and with public speaking for academic-related events. Our experts can help you develop and support your thesis, understand the rhetorical situation, organize ideas, cite sources, improve clarity, incorporate peer and instructor comments, and more. Think of us like coaches, working with you and offering you tools to succeed.
How to Get Help
We offer both in-person and online options. Appointments are 45 minutes long and scheduled through TutorTrac. If you need help scheduling or want to see if there are same-day appointments available, call or stop in to ask the first-floor library service desk. Be sure to bring any information about your assignment: the assignment sheet, due dates, the course syllabus, your textbook, notes, research, and/or any drafts or outlines. A rough agenda of items to cover during your appointment and any questions you have can also help you get the most out of your writing consultation.
If you can't find an appointment time that works for you, we have an email consultation service. Submit your consultation request through our online form and in about two or three business days we'll send it back to your PFW email address with our comments and suggestions.
No matter which type of consultation you use, we’ll email a summary at the end of your appointment that you can give to your instructor if this is a required visit or for extra credit, and you can use to continue revisions after your appointment has ended. If you lose the email or accidentally delete it, you can also check your visit history on TutorTrac.
You can also use our instant message system! At the bottom of each page on our website is a chat box that you can use to ask quick questions.
What Help is Available in the Writing Center? How to Schedule in TutorTrac
Hours
The Writing Center and its Speech and Presentation Service will be open for the Fall 2021 semester from August 30, 2021 to December 10, 2021.
We will be closed on all university holidays and suspended class days: Labor Day (September 6), Fall Break (October 18 & 19), and Thanksgiving Break (November 24-28).
Please check TutorTrac for the most up-to-date scheduling availability.
Our Policies
Because we have a limited number of staff but serve all courses on the Purdue Fort Wayne campus, we must enforce several policies:
- You may schedule one appointment per day, per class. (If you schedule more than one appointment per day for the same class, the first appointment of the day will be kept and the following appointments for the same class will be canceled.)
- You may schedule up to three appointments per six-day period, per class.
- Please do not overlap submissions to the online consultation service with in-person or virtual appointments for the same assignment.
- Plan to have no more than 10 pages of text consulted on in a single appointment. (If the assignment is more than 10 pages long, please provide a 10-page range of text to focus on during the appointment.)
- We do not provide transcription or dictation services.
- We are not a drop-off proofreading or editing service.
Contact
Writing Center
Helmke Library First Floor
260-481-5740
writingcenter@pfw.edu
Kristine Frye
Director, Writing Center and Library Service Desk
Helmke Library 106
260-481-0257
kristine.frye@pfw.edu
The Draft
Plan, curate, and write using our tips and tricks in our blog, The Draft.