Tennessee Tech students getting free help with everything from class assignments to graduate school applications through the university’s Writing Excellence Studio.
Tennessee Tech Professor of English Brian Williams said the Writing Excellence Studio at Tech, or WEST, uses graduate students from the English department’s master’s program as peer consultants.
“It’s about working with another writer to help them improve for themselves and develop their skills,” Williams said, “Not just with any one particular piece of writing, but overall in their own skills and confidence as writers.”
Williams said the service is available to students of any major or year of study. Consultants can assist with research papers, conference presentations, abstracts, personal statements, resumes, CVs and other projects.
“Basically, anything that involves some form of writing, whether it’s writing that you are going to be putting in the form of an essay or something, or if you’re just writing a series of notes or a script for yourself that you’re then going to be reading or presenting to others,” Williams said. “We can help with the structure, we can help with the clarity, we can help with giving a perspective of what the audience will be seeing or hearing.”
Williams said appointments typically last 30 or 60 minutes depending on the project. One technique consultants may use is having students read their work aloud.
“There’s a lot of research that shows when writers read their own work out loud, they hear it differently than they would if they’re just reading it in their head or if they’re just looking at it on their computer screen,” Williams said. “You will hear it like you are an audience member or like you are a reader, and so you’ll start to identify things that don’t make sense, things that you want to strengthen, things that are unclear, or just things that you really like, that you think sound cool and you want to work to do more of that.”
Williams said students do not need to arrive with a finished draft. Consultants can work with writers from the brainstorming stage through final revisions, with the goal of helping students make their own decisions about their work.
“I would say that every writer, regardless of how good they think they are or how bad they think they are, can benefit from getting someone else’s vantage point,” Williams said. “If you want to become a better writer regardless of how good you think you are already, then you need to show your work to other people.”
Williams said WEST recommends appointments but also accepts walk-ins. The studio’s website includes information about its services, consultant expertise and instructional resources.
WEST will hold its October workshop on creating an effective presentation Tuesday from 11-11:50am in Henderson Hall Room 306B. The workshop is free and open to all Tennessee Tech students.