Subjunctive What?
By: Sarah Johnson One afternoon in class, you’re halfway through a discussion about whether or not the book Fifty Shades of Gray could be considered literature, when suddenly your professor...
View ArticleThinking Before You Write
By: Kangsen Feka Wakai, a 2nd year MFA student At the Writing Center, part of our role is to guide writers along the way as they make the choices and moves that will lend meaning to their papers....
View ArticleLogical Fallacies
By: Hanna MangoldAt this point in your college career, you may have heard professors talking about, and discouraging, the use of logical fallacies in argumentative papers. The term “logical fallacies”...
View ArticleThe Preposition!
By: Emma ListerI stumbled upon this book years several years ago at the elementary school book fair, where I worked. The book is called Super Grammar, by Tony Preciado and Rhode Montijo, and (as one...
View ArticleAsking for Help
By: Matt EhlenbachBeing seasoned students, many of us feel as though we have the gig down. We get the assignment, we do it, and then we turn it in, right? While often enough things work as planned and...
View ArticleVarying Your Use of Punctuation
By: Joellyn PowersIt might not seem like it, but learning how to utilize different types of punctuation in your writing can lead to more sophisticated syntax, more complex ideas, and a piece of...
View ArticleBITE-SIZE ESSAYS
By: Simone FeigenbaumLike many students, I'm a procrastinator. The thought of having to write a paper often ends up seeming like a Herculean task, so I avoid it until the last minute, and need to do...
View ArticleFormulating a Thesis
By: Olympia Georgeson When you receive your essay prompt from your professor, first identify which type of essay it is; it may be an expository essay...
View Article"So what can you do when inspiration seems far off?"
by Matt Ehlenbach Unless you find yourself working on a creative writing piece, inspiration can seem like a strange component of the writing “formula.” Especially when crafting an academic piece, you...
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Another semester comes to a close...
The AU Writing Center blog is signing off for the summer. We’ve thoroughly enjoyed sharing our writing tips, ideas, and more with you.Thank you for reading, and we'll see you back here in Fall 2015!We...
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Welcome Back!
The fall 2015 semester is in full swing and the AU Writing Center is back in action!Our writing consultants are already hard at work, helping new and returning undergraduate and graduate students to...
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5 Tips for Starting a Paper
by Katie AvaglianoYou’re in a familiar place: sitting in front of a blank screen, no idea where to start. The prompt is sitting by your elbow, but you still don’t know what the teacher wants. It’s your...
View ArticleYou've Got a Thesis, but So What?
by Sarah Johnson Imagine this: it’s 12:35 a.m. on a cool autumn night and you’ve got your windows open so wide in your room that you can sense every shift in the chilly breeze. All of...
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Learning From the Best: How NOT to Write an Essay Like Spongebob Squarepants
By Brandon LathamCooking, cleaning and a hallucinatory fever dream – we all remember the time when Spongebob took all night to write 800 words about what not to do at a stop light.[1]Everyone from his...
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How to Survive a Terminal Case of Procrastination
By Cameron RomanSome people have their lives so figured out. Whenever a professor hands out an assignment, they open up their well-worn planners and write out exactly how they plan to have the paper...
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4 Great Places to Write this Fall
by Kathleen Escarcha If you have had the good fortune of leaving your study nook this past week, you may have noticed the deep reds and vivid oranges taking over our campus.Autumn is here, and so is...
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Summarize This
by Elise HuangA deceptively simple academic task, writing a summary can be difficult. Let's start with the basics: Why summarize?Sometimes an assignment may ask you to respond to the ideas in an...
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Writing Creatively
by Lyndi Scott Often students outside of creative writing, or literature majors, feel a lot of anxiety about writing creatively. Or even those who write a specific genre, like non-fiction, freak out...
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The Art of Quoting: Why, When, and How Often to Quote Material
By Marilyn Savich“Do I use too many quotes?” is a common question students ask while revising their essays. Truth be told, there isn’t a set number that can account for all assignments. While some...
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Don't Panic, Organize!
by Justine ZapinSo your professor has assigned a research paper and your like,But then you sober up and think, “Hey, maybe I’ll just get all the research done now! I know how to use the search box, and...
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Final Freeze:
Beating Writer's Blockby h. grieb By this time in the semester, you're already a writing machine. Just two more papers, and you're done. No problem. Or so you think. You resume your position in front...
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5 Steps to Start the Big Paper Today
by Katie AvaglianoI get it, we’re just days after the snowpocalypse. There might still be snow blocking your front door. Also, it’s January. Do we really need to start that 25 page end-of-semester...
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Writing Quotes by Writers but not Written about Writing
By Lyndi ScottIt is easy when someone says the word “writer,” to immediately think of names like Ernest Hemingway or Jane Austen, Shakespeare or Mark Twain. You know, the Greats (relatively speaking)....
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Writing for Better Classroom Conversations
by Marilyn SavichHave you ever been frustrated by your own lack of classroom participation? Your professor asked you to share your thoughts on the assigned reading, and your mind just went blank. What...
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The Art of Close Reading
by Olympia GeorgesonYou may have heard your professor stress the importance of close reading in a class lecture or write as a comment how you could have gone deeper into close reading your chosen short...
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