English Department Resources, Events, and Projects
Writing Center
Clara Belle Williams Hall (English Building), Room 102
(505) 646-5297
Hours:
Monday to Wednesday 9:00 am to 7:00 pm
Thursday 9:00 am to 6:00 pm
Friday 9:00 am to 12:00 pm
Hours for Drop-in Consultations at Zuhl Library
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Sunday: 7p.m.-9p.m.
Writing Center Director:
Kathryn Valentine, Ph.D.
Email: kvalent@nmsu.edu
Phone: (505) 646-2603
The Writing Center is a free service available for all NMSU students. We work with writers at any level of experience. The Center is staffed by graduate assistants who teach undergraduate writing courses through the English Department. We provide one-on-one consultations at any stage of the writing process, from understanding assignment directions to revising final drafts. Please be aware that we do not offer editing services, although we can work with you on aspects of proofreading and editing.
To make an appointment, call us at 646-5297, or stop by English 102 in Clara Belle Williams Hall during working hours. Appointments begin on the hour and last approximately 45-50 minutes. We recommend that you schedule an appointment a day or two in advance, and we ask that you please be on time for your appointment. We'll hold your slot for approximately 10 minutes, but after that, we may have to give your appointment to another writer. We also welcome walk-in appointments, but may not be able to accommodate walk-ins at busy times.
Please bring as much information as possible with you: your assignment sheet, any notes or drafts you've written, peer reviews of your work, and /or instructor's comments. We also ask that you come to your appointment with specific needs or questions to discuss.
We look forward to talking with you about your writing!
What students say . . .
She was so helpful! She could relate to the ideas I had and helped me put them into words.
She gave me the attention and encouragement I needed to write better papers.
What a great experience! I was nervous to have somebody else read my paper, but the consultant was attentive and kind. He really helped me!
I really appreciated her comments. She pushed me to think about ideas to improve my writing.
I was apprehensive about coming to the writing center because I thought my paper would be butchered, but I actually found it helpful and will surely come back.
He helped me tremendously. Before I came in I was stuck as to how to go about writing my paper, and now I have a better idea.
He didn't tell me what to do. He helped me most by letting me bounce ideas off him and gave me suggestions on those ideas. He's an excellent teacher.
He very clearly showed me what the main problems were. he pointed to spots in the text that were weak because of them and made many suggestions . . . He was slow enough to be clear, but fast enough not to be condescending. He even had a great sense of humor. I anticipate coming back with my work.
Tipsheets for writing
Grammar Tipsheets
Apostrophes
Articles A/An/The
Avoiding Shifts in Tense/Mood/ Person, and Number
Clauses and Phrases
Colons
Comma Splices
Coordinating Conjunctions
Dashes and Hyphens
Exclamation Points
Idiomatic Expressions
Nonrestrictive Phrases and Clauses
Other Comma Uses and Misuses
Paragraphs
Prepositions
Pronoun Case
Run On Sentences
Semicolons
Sentence Fragments
Subject-Verb Agreement
Word Level Usage
General Writing Tipsheets
Annotated Bibliographies
Avoiding Plagiarism
MLA Citation of Electronic Sources
Summaries