What I've Learned as a Writing Consultant: Kali

Hi, all,

This semester at the Writing Center has been filled with a variety of students and assignments. Throughout my sessions with different writers, I have been able to pick up many tips and tricks to make the writing process easier. These are all things that I struggled with before getting this experience in the WC. Now that I have made these changes in my own writing, the whole process is a lot less scary:

First, don’t stress out! Your teacher just gave you a 15 page paper over a topic that you don’t know anything about. It’s okay! You have an abundance of resources to help you research and become an expert on any topic you can think of. Take advantage of the online databases provide by the library, and if you’re not sure how to use them to get the best results, we can help you with that here in the Writing Center.

Second, more often than not, there is a way to cite your source. Many students, myself included, come in afraid to use a source because they are unsure of how to cite it. My first stop is always The Everyday Writer. This book breaks the steps down to make citing your sources an easy process. The OWL at Purdue is a great online source that I use frequently for citation help, as well as many other writing tips. If you don’t find exactly what you’re looking for using these two resources, we have complete MLA and APA manuals in the Writing Center that we will gladly help you use to make the perfect citation.

Third, formatting can be frustrating, but it is probably an easy fix. If you are like me, you have probably had trouble formatting your Works Cited or References page correctly. You press tab to indent the second line of your citation, but instead of moving the single line, it moves the whole thing! This trick has made my life so much easier: highlight your entire citation, right click and go to the paragraph settings, then select the hanging indentation style. Who knew it could be so easy?

These are tips that I have learned along the way to enhance my writing process this semester. If you have any questions about the writing process we would love to help you here in the Writing Center. You can set up an appointment over the phone, via e-mail, or by stopping in Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

-Kali