Utah Valley University Writing Center aims to help writers
The Utah Valley University Writing Center Director Dr. Lisa Bell took a moment to answer some questions about what they do.
Dr. Lisa Bell, who is the director of the Writing Center, was able to answer some questions for The Review to provide UVU students. The Writing Center offers many different services to our students including one-on-one and small group, writing, consultations, online, accessible, handouts, workshops, presentations and learning modules. They also help with collaborations and coordinate campus events. They established the Writing Fellows, a course-embedded tutoring program. They also help UVU graduate students, faculty and staff.
The Writing Center is able to work with writers from across campus and can assist with any assignment at any stage of the writing process. Students are able to go to the Writing Center with anything that they might be working on, for example, class assignments, applications, materials, scholarship essays, personal writing, etc.
Here are some tips Bell gave to help students be successful writers:
- Make sure you understand the assignment
- Break larger projects into smaller tasks
- Set aside time to write
- Always a lot more time than you think you’ll need.
Don’t be afraid to ask for help or use the resources around you including the Writing Center, Fulton Library and your instructor.
Bell’s goals for the future of the Writing Center are to connect the goals and values of UVU and its students. This includes hiring additional staff for our diverse student population, as well as creating more online writing support for students who may not attend classes in person or spend any time on campus. They are also striving to work more efficiently with faculty and programs on campus to create a more intentional educational experience for students across campus.
Some of the most common struggles students face when it comes to writing include helping students understand the assignment, focusing on organizing ideas, citing sources and polishing sentences. The riting Center received over 9,000 visits last year alone.
The Writing Center consultants are hired from a range of academic areas and are trained and certified through the College Reading and Learning Association. This means that consultants have multi-level training that includes supporting writers from different academic, cultural and linguistic backgrounds in order to help students across different fields of study.
In a typical writing consultation, writers and consultants work together to identify the goals for the session and discuss or read through the work that the student has brought to the center. Bell emphasized that although consultants can assist writers with a wide range of topics and tasks, writers and consultants will determine a focus for each session instead of trying to cover everything in a single session.
For those interested in learning more about the Writing Center, visit their website. The FAQ section is helpful to students to know what specifics the Writing Center can help with.
