Online Writing Center
The online writing center is a resource for students who cannot make it into the TLC. Here you can e-mail your paper to the Writing Center and have one of our consultants respond within 72 hours.
Being successful with the Online Writing Center
- Make sure you are registered in our online system
- Check this handout
- Include your assignment, course number, and instructor
- Understand that consultants only have 25 minutes per paper
- Pick a small section of your paper that you would like to have reviewed
- Be very specific with what you want covered
Questions you can use to focus your online session
Use these questions to get a better understanding of what is and is not working in your paper before you use the online system. If you understand what is not working you can give the consultant specific instructions and receive better feedback. Also, using these questions will give you a sense of what language to use when talking to a writing consultant about your paper.
Ideas, Analysis, and Critical Thinking
- Do your ideas follow logically and build on each other?
- How do you show the connection between the various pieces of evidence that you provide?
- Is the difference between opinion and evidence clear?
- Do you demonstrate effective comprehension, application, synthesis, analysis, and evaluation as needed?
Presentation of Evidence and Support
- Are key elements of the thesis supported with sufficient evidence?
- Are ideas explained and supported with specific evidence such as examples, facts, statistics, descriptions, and/or anecdotes?
- Do some points remain vague?
Organization (Structure, Coherence)
- Does your essay have an introduction, a body of well-planned paragraphs, and a conclusion?
- How do the body paragraphs address the main points and divisions or implications of the thesis?
- Are transitions between paragraphs and topics clear?
- Do you devote the same amount of time, space, and weight to each section?
Citation and Quotation Use
- Do you dialogue with the ideas and assumptions expressed or implied in other texts?
- Are sources presented fairly and completely through summary, paraphrase, or direct quotation?
- Are your words and ideas distinguishable from those of other sources?
- Are your sources documented properly?
Sentence Structure
- Do you use a variety of simple, compound, and complex sentences, both short and long?
Word Choice and Economy
- Do you use a variety of words, or are some repeated frequently?
- Do you use words that accurately express your meaning?
- Have you eliminated colloquial expressions and cliches?
- Have you avoided the ambiguity of simple pronouns, such as "this," "that," and "those" when they refer to a previous sentence?
Conclusion
- Does your conclusion summarize the key pieces of evidence you have used to
support your thesis? - Have you restated your thesis with varied wording?
- Do you end the paper with an answer to the question "So what?"
Send us your paper
E-mail your paper to uwtwrite@u.washington.edu and let the consultant know:
- What you would like to have him or her look at
- Your assignment, course number, and instructor
- Any other information that will help maximize your online consultation
