In accordance with its mission and Catholic University Policy, the Writing Center is committed to helping students develop as writers. The Writing Center does not provide an editing service; rather, we assist students in developing the skills they need to produce, develop, polish and revise their work.
This means that consultants will:
- Direct a student's attention to problems, errors, patterns of error or other areas of concern in a paper. Consultants can even work through an entire paper - sentence by sentence - with a student in order to improve grammar and style.
- Introduce and explain rules and conventions that apply to problem areas in a student's work by going over related sections in a handbook and/or using part of the student's own paper.
- Work to ensure that the student is aware of these rules and conventions and can apply them independently in his or her essay. Consultants often encourage the student to work through practice exercises, to read the paper aloud, or to consult reference material for further development.
Consultants will not:
- Make corrections for a student. Instead, consultants will work with the student to identify, understand, and repair errors in the student's paper.
- Take responsibility for the final product's correctness or grade.