MARIAN E. WRIGHT WRITING CENTER

Serving students and faculty since 1971

Why English lit classrooms should read more than dead white men

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So, lots of people don’t like reading, for various reasons. After a while, I started trying to put myself in their shoes. It could be the degree of relevancy the texts have to students’ lives (which could be very little, depending on the amount of discussion). It could be the pace at which people go

Channel Hemingway

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When in doubt, channel Hemingway. This has been my writing motto as of this last year. I had to forgo using this motto while drinking, because I found out I am more like Fitzgerald than Hemingway when it comes to my alcohol tolerance. While drinking before noon is not a way I can emulate this

Twitter Writing Center Love

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Below is the collection of tweets from writing centers around the world sharing what they love about their centers.  Take a few minutes and scroll down to see how awesome writing centers and writing center people are.  We’d like to thank all the writing centers who participated in sharing their love, and a special shout-out

Aw Crap, I’m out of M&Ms

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Writing, for most, consists largely of staring at a blank screen and a blinking cursor for half an hour. When the coffee mug (or brandy snifter) is empty and the peanut M&Ms source is depleted, the writer sinks deep into despair, realizing that not a word has been written, not a single worthy idea has

Musings of a Hypergraphic

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English was my first passion. Ever since elementary school, I have loved to read and write. Even now I still love the sounds and flow of words, the complexity of their interactions, and the power they hold to persuade readers, stimulate imaginations, and weave beauty from thin air. For me writing has always been more

Tutors Make Mistakes Too

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Lets face it, yes, tutors would like to believe that they are perfect and can do no wrong when it comes to the writing world. The fact of the matter is that tutors are humans and in being humans they are flawed, even if they claim they aren’t. We have lives, classes and other crazy

Dear Diary…NOT!

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“If I’m going to set the literary world on fire, the only way to do it is to rub one word against another.   ‘A writer’s notebook is one place to start rubbing.’ ” (Wallace Stegner/Ralph Fletcher)   Journal, sketchbook, notebook, idea log, whatever moniker you assign, it may surprise you how useful one can be,

The Writing Center Presents: The Trick or Tweet Web of Terror

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Have you ever wanted to write a story but felt that you didn’t have the time? Have you ever wanted to brag to friends and family that you collectively wrote a book? Have you ever wanted to be an author to the greatest story ever told? Well here is your chance to accomplish all three.

Those Pesky Assignment Sheets

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We have all probably been here at least once. The professor hands out the assignment sheet, and provides a lengthy discussion about the expectations, helpful hints, and things to remember, and when the professor asks if it all makes sense, we bob our heads up and down like great students should.  Then we leave. We