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The Writing Center

The Walt Whitman English Department is pleased to present The Writing Center for the second year. While English teachers sometimes refer their students to The Writing Center, all students are welcome to come for writing help in any subject. No appointment is necessary. Students are assisted on a first-come, first-served basis.

Attention Whitman students!

  • Do you need a quiet place to write?
  • Are you struggling to add pizzazz to your prose?
  • Do you need major help tackling an assignment?

Then come to The Writing Center!

We can help you

  • Understand your assignment
  • Establish an introduction or conclusion
  • Clarify your thesis
  • Focus your ideas
  • Organize your paper
  • Develop support
  • Incorporate quotations
  • Master MLA documentation
  • Smooth out clumsy sentences
  • Correct grammatical errors

What you need to bring with you

  • A hard copy of your teacher's assignment and grading rubric
  • Any outlines/drafts/ideas you've been working on
  • The literary text you're working with (if applicable)
  • Your Whitman computer network code (if you plan to work on a computer)
  • A disk so you can back-up your work (if you plan to work on a computer)
  • An open mind and a pleasant attitude

Times and Locations

The Writing Center is open daily at the following times and locations:

  • 5th Period lunch in the mini-computer lab in room A-204 (inside the English Office, room A-206)
  • 6th Period lunch in room A-234
  • After school, Monday through Thursday, from 2:15 PM - 3:15 PM in room A-234

Remember

  • Students are assisted on a first-come, first-served basis, so plan ahead.
  • Do not wait until the last minute!

The Writing Center Staff

The Writing Center is staffed by English teachers, experienced parent volunteers, and composition assistants Cathy Neff, Orion Hyson, and Linda Simon.

Volunteer!

  • Do you have a knack for writing?
  • A love for literature?
  • Are you available during our hours of operation?

Then become a parent volunteer for The Writing Center!

We'd love to have you! There is no minimum time requirement; you can volunteer once or once a week. For more information, please contact Linda Simon.

Online Writing Help and Tips for Students

Save, Save, Save!

Stuff happens. Computers crash, disks get destroyed, and sometimes, the dog really does eat your homework. Deal with it. We want your work, not your excuses. If you diligently save and back-up your typed documents, you'll never have a problem. Our best advice: email your papers to yourself. If you send them as Word document attachments, they will never be lost.

Online Dictionaries

  • Click here to visit the Merriam-Webster Dictionary and Thesaurus Online.
  • Click here to visit the Oxford English Dictionary. (Prepare to be awed. The OED is quite possibly the most amazing human achievement in history.) In order to access the OED online, you will need to visit the Media Center information kiosk to obtain a login and password.

Style Guides

Style guides help writers navigate the writing process. It's a great idea to invest in a style guide of your own that you can use throughout high school and college; it'll help you figure out everything from theses to parentheses. Every English teacher has a favorite style guide, so be sure to ask your teacher for a recommendation!

  • Click here to access a classic style guide, The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr.

Common Editorial Symbols

Having trouble discerning your teacher's corrections? It's time to figure out the meaning of all those crazy squiggle marks!

  • Click here for a list of common editorial symbols.

Other Online Resources