Writing Center Services

The University Writing Centers offer free one-to-one tutoring, providing all UD students with the opportunity to work on and improve their writing.  Tutorials are conversation based. You can expect to read through your writing with an experienced writing tutor, talk about what is working well, and what could improve. 

We offer assistance with all types of writing (academic or non-academic) and work with students at any stage of the writing process.

The Writing Center has two campus locations. 016 Memorial Hall is the primary location of the University Writing Centers and serves as the location of the Oral Communication Consultants. The Multimedia Writing Center is located in 017 Morris Library. If you are working on a project that involves powerpoint or poster design, you may prefer to choose the Multimedia location to take advantage of our large screens.

Appointments start on the hour and last approximately fifty minutes. You may have up to 2 appointments per week; these appointments must be on different days. 

Please make an appointment using our online scheduler. If you have additional questions, you may call 302-831-1168. You can also stop by the writing center to see if a consultant is available.

Schedule an appointment.​

​If you are unable to visit the writing center during a time we have an appointment available, you could try e-tutoring instead. 

Your will make an appointment for Etutoring and attach your draft. During the eutoring appointment, your tutor will read your draft, then write you a note that summarizes what they saw as the strengths of your draft, and offers your a few suggestions for revision. The tutor will then upload this note to your appointment as a separate document. You will receive an email when this has been completed; expect that to be toward the end of the hour your etutoring appointment is set for. 

How to make an eTutoring appointment:

1.) On our online scheduler for the Memorial Hall location, the Multimedia Writing Center, or the Graduate Writing Center, look at the tutor names to find one that has "face-to-face or eTutoring" indicated. 

Find an open appointment slot for that tutor (note: you do not have to be available to meet the tutor during that appointment time; the appointment time is when the tutor will read and respond to the draft you send us). Click on the appointment. 

2.) ​When the appointment box opens, you will see a "Meet online?" option below the client information box. Choose "Yes--schedule e-tutoring" for an e-tutoring appointment.

3.) When you save your appointment, a window will open that asks if you want to attach a document to your appointment. You may attach more than one document, so if you have an assignment sheet or any other kind of written instructions, please upload that along with your draft. If your draft is ready when you make the appointment, go ahead and upload a Word doc, pdf, or Powerpoint document when the box prompts you to. 

​If you don't want to attach a draft yet, don't worry! You may upload a document at any time up to the start time of your e-tutoring session. Just log back into WCOnline. At the top left side of the screen, you will see "Welcome, Your Name." Below that you will see a folder icon. If you click it, you can attach a file to your upcoming appointment. 

​4.) When your tutor has finished writing a response to you, WCOnline will email you to let you know we have uploaded a new file to your appointment. Log back in to WCOnline, click on your appointment (you can do that right below your name at the top left side of the screen), then scroll down to where documents are attached. 

If you are having trouble with the process of making an eTutoring appointment or with retrieving our response to you, give us a call at 302-831-1168 email us or stop by either our Memorial Hall or Morris Library locations. 

The writing center offers workshops for UD students on writing-related topics. Both undergraduate and graduate students are welcome. Workshops are held in the Morris 017 writing center location.

Register for a workshop: Spring 2019 Workshop Registration

The Spring 2019 Workshop Series will include:

BRAINSTORMING IS HALF THE BATTLE (March 26th, 3-4pm; and March 27th, 12-1pm)

This workshop is designed for students to learn how

brainstorming can help them write a good, interesting, and well-conceived

essay/project. In this session, students will learn what

brainstorming is, how it can benefit them, and what kind of

brainstorming methods exist that can support them on their

journey toward completing a compelling project.

ENTERING THE CONVERSATION (April 8th and 15th, 3-4pm)

Do you have trouble crafting an argument? Are thesis statements

your nemesis? Contrary to what your high school English teacher

said, thesis statements aren’t formulaic and aren’t always just one

sentence. In this workshop, we’ll help you develop a strong,

conceptual thesis statement that will enable you to enter a

scholarly conversation with confidence.

SO YOU'VE WRITTEN YOUR FIRST DRAFT… (March 20th and April 10th, 1-2pm)

Did you just receive feedback on a first draft and don't know what

to do next? Fret not! Come to our workshop on revision! In this

session, we’ll discuss how to understand and analyze constructive

feedback, how to address big ideas and tiny details, how to write

with clarity and concision, outlining tactics, proofreading, and

more!

WRITING PROFESSIONALLY (NOT PROFESSIONALISTICALLY) (March 20th and 27th, 3-4pm)

In this workshop, we will provide a practical guide to

eliminating poor writing habits. Writing in cliches, poor or

inappropriate word choice, informal voice, thesaurus abuse, and

poorly executed citations are the major themes we will cover.

We will give you a behind-the-scenes look into what unnerves

writing instructors!