Our writing assistants are your fellow students who have experienced many of the same writing challenges you are facing. When you approach an assistant to talk with him or her about your writing, you will have what we call a conference.

A conference is an informal conversation about your writing with a University Writing Center intern. It will help you explore ways to improve your overall writing skills. The intern will focus on improving your understanding and use of the writing process as a whole, not just the paper in front of you. This will help you improve the current paper, the next one, and so on into your career.

We will talk with you about any part of the writing process or any of your writing. However, we won't do your work or you writing for you. From brainstorming to drafting to revising and polishing, our goal is to help you improve your writing for the long term.

While we will not take over any of the stages of writing for you, we will talk with you at any stage of your writing process-from brainstorming to drafting and polishing your piece of writing. Our feedback is designed and intended to help you better understand how to improve your writing.

Writing Center assistants are required to follow a specific set of guidelines when having a conference with a client.

Writing Center assistants will:

	Help you learn to word process.
	Help you understand your assignment and your instructor's expectations.
	Read your work at any stage.
	Provide constructive feedback on your writing.
	Discuss ways to make your writing more clear and effective.
	Offer guidance with organization.
	Help you find error patterns.
	Be honest and sincere.
	Offer encouragement and support.
	Give constructive feedback on your writing.

Writing Center assistants will not:

	Take responsibility for any stage of your paper.
	Proofread or edit a paper for you.
	Type a paper for you.
	Grade your paper or do written evaluations.