Class tours
The Writing Center welcomes instructors to bring their entire class to our on-campus location.
We began offering class tours because we realized that students are often nervous about visiting the Writing Center for the first time. They may be hesitant to go to a new place on campus, they may not realize the Writing Center can help with their specific writing need, or they may think asking for help makes them a "bad" writer (it doesn't!). Bringing your class to the Writing Center as a group takes the pressure off individual students and helps them feel secure and confident pursuing academic assistance.
Tours take 10-15 minutes. They're designed to help your students get familiar with our location, tutors, and mission. With that in mind, each tour includes a visit to the Writing Center workspaces, an overview of the types of writing we work on, and an explanation of how tutoring sessions work. Students will also receive a complimentary bookmark with our hours and contact information printed on them. Tours are also helpful for instructors; it's always good to know who your students are working with and to brush up on what we can (and can't) do for them.
To schedule a class tour, contact the Assistant Director at writing@nmu.edu.
Faculty writing assistance
Students aren't the only writers on campus. As a member of the NMU faculty or staff, you'll do all kinds of writing, such as course syllabi; important emails; sabbatical, tenure, and grant applications; and scholarly articles detailing your latest research. Your writing often leaves your desk and goes into dozens of readers' hands. It's always a good idea to get extra feedback when you're working on high-profile professional projects like these.
You can schedule a one-on-one consultation with our graduate assistant, an MA/MFA in writing candidate, to help you polish these documents before you release them to the world. (Plus, it's a lot easier to get your students to come to the Writing Center if you lead by example!) Simply visit our faculty tutoring page to set up your appointment.
In-class workshops
While students all have individual writing strengths and weaknesses, sometimes the majority of a class collectively struggles with similar areas. The Writing Center can help you address general writing concerns for your specific course through an in-class workshop. These workshops can last anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour, depending on the concern and how much time you'd like to spend on that component of writing.
To schedule an in-class workshop, contact writing@nmu.edu. The Assistant Director, a graduate student in the English Department's MA/MFA program, will spend some time discussing your class needs and goals with you, then tailor the writing workshop to those needs. If tutors are available at the time of the workshop, they may also come to the workshop to assist and gain public speaking skills.
Please note that Writing Center reserves the right to limit the number of workshops conducted for a specific class so as not to overextend the Assistant Director.
Instructor consultations
Writing is a cross-disciplinary skill. Students will need to know how to communicate effectively in writing in almost any career field and in professional and personal relationships. You can help them develop crucial writing skills for the discipline you teach by incorporating writing into your class. Some of the ways you can do that are by:
- Offering a variety of written assignments in undergraduate and graduate courses
- Learning how to effectively discuss writing conventions in your field with your students
- Making writing assignments a valuable means of learning course material
- Learning how to best and most efficiently assess course writing
The Writing Center is here to help you develop writing-intensive assignments, accompanying materials, and instructional methods based on established best practices in writing instruction. To schedule a one-on-one consultation and learn how you can better incorporate writing in your class, contact Writing Center Director Z.Z. Lehmberg at zlehmber@nmu.edu.
Specialty workshops
The Writing Center welcomes the chance to interact with students and faculty across campus and join them in creating high quality educational opportunities. We've assisted with specialty on-campus events such as a research writing workshop aimed at helping students achieve research goals and obtain funding, a graduate student professional development day, and a departmental mixer to raise awareness of academic resources on campus. Our participation has ranged from poster displays to presentations to interactive workshops.
If you're planning or hosting an on-campus event that would benefit from having a Writing Center representative present, we'd love to participate! Let us know what you're working on and how we can help by contacting the Assistant Director at writing@nmu.edu.