The Writing Center

Explore everything you can imagine with a peer-tutor at the Writing Center

In addition to these Writing Center resources, please see Well-being and Academics During COVID-19 and Student COVID-19 Information.

Remote tutoring for spring quarter starts up again on Thursday, April 2, 2020.

 

How do I schedule an remote appointment?​

Email schedule.evergreenwritingcenter@gmail.com. You will be sent a scheduling form to fill out, and we’ll take it from there. 

Olympia Campus Remote Hours

Weeks 1-10:
Mon-Thurs: 12 pm - 7 pm
Friday: 12 pm - 4 pm
Saturday: Closed
Sunday: 12 pm - 4 pm

Eval Weeks:
Mon-Tues: 10 am-6 pm
Weds-Thurs: 10 am - 4 pm
Friday: Closed

Break Weeks:
We are closed during all break weeks.

Tacoma Campus Remote Hours
Weeks 2-10:

Mon-Thurs: 2 pm - 6 pm 

Eval Weeks: 
Closed

Break Weeks:
We are closed during all break weeks. ​

How long are sessions?

​Our remote sessions are very similar to our in-person sessions; they happen in real time for either 25 minutes or 50 minutes.

How should I prepare for the session?

You may want to review our Author’s Note before your session. Your tutor will ask you to respond to the questions on it to open the session. 

Get to know Google Docs. Your tutor can talk you through some of what you’ll need to know. Try watching this general tutorial: Google Docs Tutorial. Also, check out this tutorial about an option for how a collaborative editing process can look using “suggestion mode”: Suggestion Mode Tutorial (Both videos are close-captioned.)

What do I do at my appointment time?

At least 15 minutes before your appointment, make sure you have your document in a shareable text form. “Share” your work with us. This can be via:

How will you see my work and communicate with me?

After your appointment is scheduled, your tutor will use Google Docs to put your work on a screen that you both can see and work within. 

  • If you have a Google account already, share your document with evergreenwritingcentertutor@gmail.com. 
  • If you don’t have a Google account, either email us your text in the body of your email or as an attachment, and we’ll create a shared Google document to share with you. 
  • Depending on your and your tutor’s preferences, you can choose to voice chat, text chat, or both. 
  • If you want to talk on the phone, you’ll need to leave your phone number in the scheduling form. When they call you, your tutor’s phone number may show up as unlisted. If you don’t leave a phone number, your tutor will communicate with you through Google Docs’ chat box or comments.  

How much writing can my tutor and I cover in one session?

As with in person sessions, you can only really look at 5-10 pages of text depending on what your goals are. You are welcome to make up to 3 appointments in a week to cover longer documents. You should generally plan to only talk about one project during a session. 

 

  • As always, you don’t have to have anything written down in order to have a session. But we’ll open a Google Doc anyway as a place for notes and as a way to have a chat. 

Can I send you the document and come back later to my tutor’s comments?

Our sessions are designed to assist you in meeting your goals with your participation. We will not “correct” your paper and email it back to you. We talk with you about your goals and come up with solutions collaboratively, whether your concerns are around grammar, proofreading, sentence flow, organization/argument/impact, generating a draft, or getting started.  

What kind of tutoring is it/how are tutors trained?

If you want to know more about our sessions and bust myths about our practices, check out our website: About Appointments and Cultivating Voice Readings/Syllabus. 

What if I’m not getting what I need in my session?

Your tutor will do their best, but they need communication from you to understand what you’re looking for. We appreciate your understanding while we are transferring to remote tutoring instead of face-to-face tutoring. Make sure you let them know if what’s happening is helping or if you need something else! 

Are there any boundaries or rules I should respect while online with my tutor?

As with in-person sessions, tutors can refuse to serve if they are unsafe. Please be respectful of our tutors by not making sexual or violent comments, and not using derogatory language or hate speech. Generally, please use direct communication to express your needs to your tutor. 

What if I have feedback about my session?

We want your feedback! If you have feedback, please fill out Anonymous Feedback: Writing Center @ Evergreen.

What can I work on?

Our motto is “any writer, any writing.” You might have academic work, but what about your fiction? Your poetry? Your Academic Statement? Your resumes, cover letters, grad school applications? Letters to your family, memoirs...anything!

Keep Writing, we're online. Email schedule.evergreenwritingcenter@gmail.com

Our Mission

Our mission is to support Evergreen writers of diverse abilities and identities by cultivating confidence, skills, self-awareness, and agency at every stage of the writing process through peer-to-peer collaboration.

Our Vision

We envision a Writing Center…
...where all students feel that they can lay claim to the identity of “writer” 
...where all students leave each session with increasing confidence in their next steps
...with a reputation for providing valuable support services for the Evergreen community
...that is accountable for its failings and is constantly working towards growth and improvement
...that serves the authentic needs of students and provides them with useful resources 
...that engages the dynamic tension between equitable student access to the language of power and recognizing the validity of writing in “Multiple Englishes”
...where the staff is representative of the community we serve 
...that collaborates with other on-campus support services to serve students
...where all students across diverse abilities and identities feel comfortable and empowered to use the Writing Center
...that holds the institution accountable to continually engage in the pursuit of equity as it relates to student writing

Conversations

The Writing Center pursues its mission in relationship to many levels of stakeholders, including: the diverse students of Evergreen, the Administration of the College, the Faculty, the greater community of Writing Centers in higher education and the greater community of writers at large. We hope through this collection of letters to reveal our history of thought and include ourselves in the ongoing dialogues about how to best serve our multilayered communities.