Write to Excellence Center
234 Drew Hall
562-4206/4205
FAX: 462-4211

Hours of Operation
M-Th: 8-4 p.m.
M & Th: 5-8 p.m.
F: 8-12
Sunday: 4-8 in Library Lobby

Schedule Write to Excellence Center Conferences

Who are the Write to Excellence tutors?

Write to Excellence tutors are mostly graduate students from the Department of English and Foreign Languages. Many of these tutors are working on their Master of Fine Arts degrees in creative writing; others are working on their Master of English degrees. These tutors may also teach English 090, 101, and 102 and tutor as a part of their teaching obligation. Five of the WTE Center tutors are undergraduate students who are strong writers. Not all of the undergraduate students are English majors; however, all of them are good writers themselves.

Tutors in the WTE Center are trained to assist students at any stage in the writing process on any kind of writing assignment.

Graduate students working on graduate theses or faculty seeking feedback on their writing may make appointments with the WTE Center Director.

Write to Excellence Center Director

Dr. Delma McLeod-Porter, Director of the WTE Center, holds a PhD in Composition and Rhetoric from Texas A&M University, a Master’s degree in English from Stephen F. Austin State University, and a Bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Houston. McLeod-Porter has taught composition, language, and literature courses at McNeese State University for sixteen years. She has also served as Director of Freshman-Sophomore English and Coordinator of Developmental Writing during that time. She has authored/edited the series Bridging the Gap: Learning to Write Effectively and is completing a writing handbook Write to Excellence: A Handbook for Writing Across the Curriculum.

What happens inside a tutoring session?

During a session, your tutor will ask you to describe your concerns, or those of your professor. The tutor will also want to see something you have written. If you are just getting started, the tutor will help you develop your ideas. If you have a draft, the tutor can discuss whatever issues you want to work on – a strong thesis, logical development, careful transition, or some of the more mechanical aspects of research such as the effective integration of sources into your original writing. Tutors can also talk with you about the clarity and style of your writing. Although the tutors will never "fix" your papers for you, they will help you identify problems and avoid recurring patterns of error.

Below is a specific list of the kinds of work we do in the Write to Excellence Center:

1. Help you understand a writing assignment.
2. Offer techniques for getting past "writer’s block."
3. Discuss your ideas for a paper or project.
4. Assist you with the development, organization, style, and clarity of a draft.
5. Guide you in editing and proofreading skills.
6. Assist you with quoting, paraphrasing, summarizing, and responding to sources.
7. Help you cite sources properly using citation systems appropriate to your discipline.
8. Consult with you as you revise.

The Write to Excellence Center cannot do any of the following:

1. Write any portion of your paper.
2. Correct your errors for you.
3. Evaluate a professor’s assignment or comment on the grade a paper should receive.
4. Review a graded paper to comment on a grade that has been assigned.
5. Tutor you on content specific to a course.

Faculty Colloquia

Online Writing Resources

The writing centers below have excellent online resources. These links will also provide links to other sites as well.

George Mason University
Harvard University
Purdue University