SHSS Writing Center at NU helped me to write better and stress less about papers.
Let me introduce myself: I am Almira; I study biological science here at NU. I am graduating this year. Throughout my studies, I regularly visited SHSS Writing Center (WC). They helped me with my coursework papers, motivation letters and CV; Even emails.
Being a biology major, I struggled a lot with writing social sciences and humanities papers. I took both SHSS 150 and SHSS 250 to improve my writing, since it is inevitably a necessary skill to be able to present ideas and arguments. I visited the WC at every step of my writing process.
They helped me to clearly define my research questions based on my ideas, objectively assess the strength of my arguments, and the flow of my papers. Step by step I became more solid and clear in my writing and was no longer afraid of research papers in 300+ level courses.
The Writing Center also helped me with my CV and motivation letters for scholarship and graduate degree applications. It is not easy to write a solid motivation letter. It took me about 3-4 weeks, and more than 5 WC appointments to write mine. The tutors helped me check the ideas, flow, the-word choice, the mood, and the overall understandability of the motivation letter.
It takes time to find a WC professor with whom you have a good match of writing style and ideas. In my case, I checked my motivation letter with several WC professors. If one professor helped me with ideas and arguments, another professor checked for the word choice, while another helped me to ensure the overall flow of my writing.
I believe there is even more with which WC can help you with. I have some tips for you to make the most of your WC experience:
It is best to prepare questions about your paper beforehand. I know that sometimes it is hard to point out what is wrong with the writing, but it is worth trying.
Plan your WC appointment ahead of time, since appointment slots are taken up very quickly
Most importantly start early. I know there are some people who can write good papers in one day/night. However, if you hate working under time pressure like me, start earlier!
For Almira’s original blog post, go to: https://almirazhantuyakova.wixsite.com/mysite-1/blog