With the leadership of the English Department, we began serving students in Thomas Hall in 1987 before moving to the second floor of C.T. Ryan Library. For years, the Writing Center was under the auspices of the College of Fine Arts and Humanities. In 2009, the Writing Center moved, both administratively and physically. First, it was transferred to the Academic Success Offices within the Division of Student Affairs. Next, it was relocated to a three-room suite on the Library's second floor next to the skylights. Finally, the Writing Center has teamed with the Academic Peer Tutoring program to form the Learning Commons, which is temporarily operating on the west side of the Library's second floor during the much-anticipated renovation of its permanent home on the east side of the second floor.
This spring the staff is comprised of an Assistant Director and ten undergraduate and graduate consultants from various disciplines. Those who serve as writing consultants possess excellent oral and written communication skills, as well as a commitment to one-on-one instruction.
Our mission is to offer free support to UNK students (both undergraduate and graduate), staff, and faculty who are working to improve their writing. Many students visit the Writing Center during their first-year composition courses. Others discover us while preparing work for writing intensive courses in their majors. Still others present themselves when they are working on take-home exams, masters theses, manuscripts for publication, application essays, cover letters, and more. We work extensively with writers whose first language is not English.
Most of our work is done face-to-face and one-on-one through 30 to 60 minute consultations. We also offer electronic feedback, or eConsulting, for those who cannot easily atttend face to face consultations. Writers can bring any piece of writing at any stage of the writing process. Many writers come for help with the following writing tasks:
 Understanding the assignment |
| Generating ideas |
| Developing a thesis |
| Being mindful of audience |
| Organizing main points |
| Focusing paragraphs |
| Using transitions |
| Forming clear sentences |
| Varying sentence structure |
| Making strong word choices |
| Revising grammar and punctuation |
| Avoiding wordiness and redundancy |
| Incorporating quoted material |
| Paraphrasing others |
| Citing outside sources |
Last updated 01/04/2011