Tips to conquer writing ~ Uconn events and resources

When I came to this university I certainly did not expect to actually need help with my writing. I expected everything to be as simple as it was in high school, but, unfortunately, I was mistaken. You will find that the professor’s here have very high expectations and what you thought may be worthy of an ‘A’ might actually come back to you with a big fat ‘C’ in that horrible red ink pen on the front of your paper. It is helpful to know where you can turn to when the paper you are asked to write seems a little too difficult or if you need a better understanding of how to do some aspect of writing.

 What I did not know was that, here at the Stamford regional campus at Uconn we have a place where you can go to get help with your writing. Sure, you may be a little nervous at first or ashamed at the fact that you need help, but there is nothing to worry about because it might just end up saving your paper and your overall grades.

 Visit the Student services room 2.01, you can call 203-251-8484 to make an appointment and you will get yourself a 40 minute session with a writing consultant in room 302.

All you need to do is bring in the assignment sheet and instructions (and maybe your paper if you have it written and want help with that) and they would be happy to assist you in any stage of your writing process.

Now, don’t get me wrong, they will not rewrite your paper for you it’s just too good to be true, they want your paper to show your own thoughts, ideas and opinions. They are there to train you into becoming a better, more confident writer.

I urge you to take advantage of this opportunity if you are ever doubtful in your writing ability for it could really turn your writing around.

Be sure to keep a look out for events coming up that involve writing, you could really benefit from them. I happened to attend one event on using and quoting sources with the MLA style. I remember thinking, oh great this is going to be so boring and pointless I totally know how to do MLA already that’s too easy. But, actually, I found it to be extremely beneficial and even entertaining. Melissa Mullins, who is one of our english professors did a great job at keeping everyone who attended entertained with her quirky humor and with the way she interacted with everyone. I learned things that I really had no idea how to do like citing sources with more than one author, citing a source that has no author and so much more. So, take a chance and go to an event, you may find that it is more helpful than you expected.

-Katherine Grierson