Writing is key to helping students learn, clarify, organize, and articulate important concepts, ideas, and information. Students improve as writers when they’re provided with guidance relevant to their assigned tasks and the opportunity to revise with feedback.
We’re here to help you guide your students through their writing processes and to help your students perform well as writers.
What can you do to help your students improve their writing?
Refer students to us.
There are numerous ways to inform your students about writing support!
Import our informational Canvas Commons page into your own Canvas course site(s): Log in to Canvas and open the Canvas Commons (bottom left of the menu section); search for Writing Help: Judith Anderson Herbert Writing Center, click “Import/Download” and select the destination course. You’ll find the imported page in “All Pages” and may move it/link to it as desired.
Copy and paste the following statement into your syllabus and/or Canvas site:
Writing Help from the Judith Anderson Herbert Writing Center
Getting feedback during the writing process is a great way to improve the quality of your writing and your confidence as a writer. Talk with trained, friendly writing consultants about your academic papers–getting started, organizing your ideas, finding and citing sources, revising and polishing final drafts, grammar, and more–as well as about creative and professional writing. Detailed information about services and resources is available on the Writing Support page.
For how to make and attend in-person or online appointments, see the “Making and Attending Appointments” page.
Contact writingcenter@utk.edu with any questions.
Social media: Instagram: utkwritingctr; Twitter: @UTKWritingCtr
Request a short presentation to your class about our services during the first couple weeks of the semester. To do so, complete this form: https://tiny.utk.edu/JAHWCclassvisit. We will try to accommodate as many requests as possible!
Require students to visit and/or give extra credit for doing so. We can help in this way if you follow the guidelines below:
- Complete this form well in advance of your assignment date to let us know your students are coming: tiny.utk.edu/JAHWCrequiredvisit
- Require students to complete their JAHWC appointment at least 3 days in advance of your assignment due date. This is so that students can get an appointment, which isn’t possible if all students from the class try to visit on the day a paper is due. (Do not include Saturdays or Sundays as part of the 3 days in advance.)
- We recommend requiring students to make appointments during early parts of the writing process–since that’s when our help can be most effective. Want your students to get help finding sources, making an outline, or checking whether their main point or thesis is on track? These are excellent times to refer them to us and can lead to greater overall writing improvement than simply getting feedback on a final draft.
- Provide the following information to your students with your assignment:
- Complete your appointment at least 3 days in advance of the assignment deadline. (Saturday and Sunday are not counted in the “3 days in advance.”)
- Make your appointment at https://UTK.MyWCOnline.com. See these instructions for making and attending appointments.
- You don’t have to wait until you have a completed draft to make your appointment. Be prepared for an interactive conversation; don’t say you’re showing up just to “get the credit.” See How to Make the Most of a Writing Consultation, and this article on “Why Visit your Campus Writing Center?”
- Proof of attendance: In the evening of the day of your appointment, you’ll receive an automated email from the WCOnline appointment system requesting that you fill out a satisfaction survey. That survey request email is your proof of attendance. (The JAHWC genuinely wants your feedback, so please complete their anonymous survey, too!)
- Questions? Contact writingcenter@utk.edu with any questions about extra credit arrangements.
Group appointments: Contact us at writingcenter@utk.edu for details about how your students can meet with a writing consultant in a group appointment.
Proof of attendance: Easily available. Ask your students to forward you the automated survey request email that is sent out each evening from WCOnline, our appointment scheduling system, to each kept appointment.
Share our resources with your students.
Let students know about our Writing Support page, which details these and other resources:
- Writing Guides with reputable resources for writing in specific subjects
- The Assignment Planner, which helps students manage writing projects according to their due date. Each assignment planner breaks down the details of working on a particular type of writing project into manageable steps.
- Our AI Tools and Writing: Information for Students page
- The Big Orange Writing Playbook: Tips, Tools, & Practice, a dynamic workshop series designed to help undergraduates build essential academic writing skills
- English 103 or 104 1-credit elective writing support courses for students taking first-year English Composition courses
Access our resources for instructors.
If you teach a Vol Core Written Communication (WC) course, visit our page on Teaching a “WC” Course.
Take a look at our pages on designing formal writing assignments and informal writing assignments, on responding to student writing, and on resources for working with multilingual writers.
If you’re thinking about how AI use might impact writing and writing instruction, visit our page with resources for instructors on generative AI and writing instruction. We also have developed a page for students, with guidelines for them to consult before using generative AI tools.
Reach out to talk about ways we can help you help your students become better writers. We’re here to talk with you about designing meaningful writing assignments that help students write effectively in your discipline, ways to offer effective feedback on student writing, demystifying academic writing for your students, navigating AI use in your class, and more.
- Contact us at writingcenter@utk.edu to set up a conversation.
The “IW” Grade: For more information about assigning an “Incomplete due to Writing” (IW) grade, see our page on the “IW” Grade procedure.
Contact us at writingcenter@utk.edu to arrange a conversation about how we can support you!