How do I get assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic?

For the fall semester, one-on-one tutorial sessions will be held remotely, using the Upswing online learning platform. Sign in using your BMCC email address and password. The following instructions can help you find a Writing Assistant quickly.

What does the Writing Center do?
A sixty (60) minute, one on one tutorial with a writing professional is at the heart of our service.

• The first 5-10 minutes of a session focus on the writer’s reasons for visiting with us and their expectations of their writing. We discuss the writer’s current progress, advice they’ve received in the past from instructors and peers, and set goals for our time together.
• The next 40 minutes are spent addressing the writer’s stated goals.
• In conversation with a Writing Assistant, students practice many phases of the writing process: brainstorming, listing, freewriting, rewriting. Students learn and review strategies for open-ended and methodical questioning, active and unexpected brainstorming, radical revision, and meticulous editing.
• In a session’s last few minutes, students co-author a “Student Session Report” with the Writing Assistant. Students may request a copy, for themselves or their instructors, which notes what they learned, how they learned, and what they’ll do to build on their learning.

Does a student have to make an appointment to meet with a Writing Assistant?
The Writing Center offers drop-in and scheduled appointments to all registered students. Please be reminded that we are a highly utilized service on campus. As such, scheduling an appointment with us provides students the greatest opportunity to collaborate with one of our writing professionals.

To make appointments, please visit our office in Room S-510 or call (212) 220-1384 during our business hours.

How many appointments can a student have?
Up to two (2) appointments per week, upon availability.

Does the Writing Center proofread or edit a writer’s work?
The BMCC Writing Center teaches students to proofread and correct their own work. We are not an editing service and do not correct papers for students.

Does the Writing Center check student grammar?
The BMCC Writing Center utilizes many strategies that help students focus on their grammar and punctuation. One of our primary strategies focuses on reading out loud for correction.

• We encourage students to listen to themselves read their papers aloud.
  • We ask students to read exactly what is written. Every letter should be pronounced.
  • We ask students to pay close attention to exactly what is said out loud when reading.
  • We sometimes read out loud for a student if she is too shy or uncomfortable.
• We ask students to “use their ear” and to note anything that sounds incorrect or awkward.
  • We discuss what sounds correct and what doesn’t sound correct.
  • We discuss the viability of possible corrections.
  • We sometimes point at errors the student orally corrects but doesn’t notice on the page.
  • We sometimes question, “There is an error in that sentence. Can you find it?”

More strategies for reading out loud can be found here: http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/proofreading/

Does it cost anything to visit the Writing Center?
The Writing Center is free service graciously funded by the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006 (Perkins IV) administered by the New York State Education Department.