Library and writing center offer writing workshops for students

Marshall University's Drinko Library and The Writing Center are pairing up Tuesday through Thursday to provide assistance with research papers to students.   

Many students have research papers due around this time of the semester, said Teresa Bean, information literacy assistant at Drinko Library and English professor at Marshall. 

The workshop will employ both librarians and writing center tutors to assist students, Bean said. Librarians will provide help in finding the correct sources. Writing tutors will then help students take those sources and incorporate them into a paper.

"Basically we're trying to kind of combine help with the research and finding sources and evaluating those sources with help actually converting that into a paper," Bean said.

She said students are often intimidated by research paper assignments.

"I think that the researching and writing process can be really overwhelming and stressful, and you don't really know what help you need until you're in the middle of it," Bean said. "I think that students are really going to benefit from having individual help during that time."

Chris DiOrio, tutor at The Writing Center, said they tutor about 15 students per day.

Students often come to the center for assistance with research papers, he said. Among the largest problems are in-text citations and how to avoid plagiarism.

Brittany Davies, tutor at The Writing Center, said many students have difficulty integrating sources smoothly into their paper.

"The writing tutors from The Writing Center will be there for people that maybe have a draft already or aren't sure how to take those sources and start actually writing a paper," Bean said.  "Whatever they need help with within that process, we're going to try and offer."

The workshops will take place in Presentation Room 138 on the first floor of Drinko Library, Bean said. The workshops are free and open to all students from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday and from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday.  Free snacks will be offered.

"We're kind of thinking of it as a research and writing buffet," Bean said. "So, come and have a snack, and get the help that you need. It's going to be very casual."

Kelsey Thomas can be contacted at thomas336@marshall.edu.