Writing Programs
The Writing Center is a student-staffed program designed to provide individualized, one-on-one assistance at any stage of the writing process, from understanding an assignment, idea development, and brainstorming to structuring, revising, and polishing a draft—and everything in between. We offer 50-minute peer review conferences for all Union students working on writing projects across the liberal arts, sciences, and engineering curriculum.
Our staff of specially trained writing mentors—Union undergraduates from a range of majors—are available to work with their peers in an open, supportive, and enthusiastic learning environment. Our goal is to promote excellence in writing and thinking in the liberal arts tradition across the college.
The Writing Center is located on the second floor of Schaffer Library, Rooms 226 and 227. We are open during the term, Sunday through Thursday, 3-11pm, by appointment only. The Writing Center is closed on Friday and Saturday. Learn how to make an appointment here.
The Writing Center typically opens during the first week of classes each term. Because we are staffed by students, the Writing Center is closed during breaks, when classes are not in session. If you have questions, please contact us!
Our Teaching Philosophy
All writers need readers. Warm, friendly, constructive feedback—that's what we do at the Writing Center. Our approach is collaborative and conversational: our student-led staff of writing mentors engage their peers in lively discussion about ideas, and the purpose, situation, audience, organization, clarity, and coherence of writing projects. We work with students on sentence-level issues and grammar, but we prioritize “higher-order” concerns in student writing—from understanding the assignment to idea development, thesis, structure, organization, and argument, along with use of evidence, paragraphing, topic sentences, transitions, word choice, and so on.
Whether we’re working with students on sentence-level issues related to grammar and usage, or focusing on higher-order issues related to ideas, structure, and argument, our goal is to help students reflect on how we write and why—as students develop strategies for revising their own work.
The Writing Center is closely connected to the Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) program at Union. Learn more about the mission of the WAC program here.