Writing & Speaking Services
Writing and Speaking Services puts you in touch with caring, supportive readers/listeners for your work in progress. Whether you’re just starting to work on an assignment or ready to edit, our tutors can help you see your project from your audience’s perspective.
We have resources and tutors for writing and public speaking assignments in any course at LR. We can help you with any aspect of your project: developing a thesis or support; organizing; editing; creating visual aids; vocal/physical delivery; and speech anxiety. Our tutors are ready to assist with online presentations as well.
Writing and speaking services are a free resource available to all undergraduate and graduate students and faculty.
Writing Services
Our one-on-one sessions with writers typically focus on one or two of the following topics:
- Understanding the assignment
- Generating ideas to write about
- Supporting a thesis or purpose
- Organizing ideas
- Editing for coherence, clarity and correctness
- Citing sources correctly
If you don't see your concern on the list, just let your tutor know what's on your mind. If you need help with more than two issues you can make as many appointments with us as you need.
Appointments are not required, but are encouraged. Students from Asheville and Columbia are welcome to use virtual services provided through the Hickory campus. Please contact us at lru.writingcenter@jieyangw.com or
828.328.7436 for questions or more information.
To make sure your session is as helpful as possible, please read through and complete the following prior to your appointment.
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Preparing for an Online Tutoring Session
We have two primary goals for each tutoring session:
- To provide feedback to help you make your draft more reader-based and check that it meets the assignment’s requirements. We want you to leave your session knowing what work needs to happen next.
- To help you become an improved writer in some small way. For this reason, your full participation and engagement in the session are needed. Please do not expect a session where the tutor simply tells you what changes to make.
A typical online writing center session lasts between 30 minutes and one hour and focuses on one or two of the following writing concerns, in order of priority:
First-Order Concerns
- Understanding an assignment
- Understanding/addressing instructor comments on a draft or graded paper
- Generating ideas on what to write about
- Stating a thesis or clarifying overall purpose
- Developing and/or organizing support paragraphs
- Improving coherence (connections between sentences and paragraphs)
- Making sentences clear and easy to read the first time
Late-Order Concerns
- Identifying and correcting patterns of error
- Addressing style issues such as wordiness, inappropriate tone
- Proofreading
- Using source material appropriately and fairly; avoiding plagiarism
- Documenting sources (MLA, APA, CBE, etc.)
In order to make sure your session is as helpful as possible, please do the following prior to your appointment:
- Plan. Think about what you want to accomplish in your session. Make a list of the questions you have about your work so far. Which of the writing concerns listed above are you focused on at this stage? If you are working on first-order (big picture) concerns and have questions, plan to focus on one or two of those in your session.
- Have a copy of your assignment and your latest draft (or notes) ready to share on your screen. Have at hand any related materials that might be helpful during your session, including previous drafts, comments from peer review or instructor, notes from class, and sources that you will be using for the writing.
- If the assignment is not clear to you, it is often helpful to ask your instructor for clarification before you seek our help. We can help you understand most assignments, but sometimes we will encourage you to see your instructor for further explanation, especially if we are not sure about what is required.
- Be prepared to schedule follow-up sessions. One session on a paper may not be enough to address every area of needed revision or editing. By the end of your session, you should have a pretty good idea of what to work on next. Give yourself time to work on the draft and bring it back in for additional feedback.
- Have paper on hand to keep track of revision and editing needs during the session. This will help you when you are working on your own and will also help you decide whether to schedule another appointment. You might want to record the session, or ask your tutor to record the session, so that you can go back to it.
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How it Works
During your writing session, we will:
- Ask you to share your assignment and rubric in electronic form during your session. You can use the screen sharing function in Zoom or upload a file attachment to the Zoom chat area;
- Talk with you about your assignment and its requirements - i.e. length, audience, purpose, content requirements, organizational requirements, evaluation criteria;
- Seek to come to an agreement with you about how to focus the session on one or two writing concepts/objectives. This will be accomplished by asking you questions about your writing plans, reading a few paragraphs of your assignment to gain a sense of what aspects of the writing seem to need attention next;
- Read sections of your draft with you. We might read a few paragraphs silently, or we may ask you to read aloud (this is a good way for you to hear things you’ve overlooked during your draft--gaps in logic, for example, or unclear sentences or fuzzy connections between parts).
- Ask you questions about your meaning and intention to initiate a conversation.
- Point you to additional resources such as Purdue OWL.
- Answer your questions.
Speaking Services
Speaking Services offers aid to undergraduate and graduate students and faculty across the university to help improve upon individual and group presentations for courses at LR and beyond. Speaking Services can help you develop topics, locate sources, refine arguments, polish structure, thoughts and gain confidence in delivery.
Tutors are here to help you throughout your preparation process and can assist you with:
- Helping to understand your speaking assignment/purpose
- Getting started with your speaking assignment
- Developing and organizing your ideas
- Polishing the style of your piece
- Designing visual aids
- Rehearsing your presentation
Speaking Services offers in-person tutoring sessions in BEAR Central and virtual tutoring sessions. If meeting remotely, you will receive a link to join a Zoom meeting before your scheduled appointment.
Speaking Services also offers a large number of public speaking tip sheets and worksheets.
Faculty may also request instructional support though our online request form. We offer a review of our services, workshops and pedagogy support through which the speaking services director discusses available resources for your particular class assignment.