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Do you need writing support? The Writing Center, located in USM LAC's new Learning Center (Room 187), is open and free of charge to all USM students. Sign up for regular tutorials (half hour sessions) on the sign-up sheet posted by the Writing Center door. You may also email the center or call 753-6513.

Current Hours of Operation:

Summer 2008

Mondays: 9:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.
Tuesdays: 1:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m.
Wednesdays: 9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m.
Thursdays: 1:00 p.m.-6:00 p.m.
Fridays: Closed until July 18, then 11:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.

Because our fabulous new Peer Tutors are trained and ready to assist you, we will have MULTIPLE timeslots and/or walk-in assistance available during most tutoring hours! We also have five computer stations available for tutoring or independent work.

What the Writing Center can do for you:
• Help you generate ideas for a writing assignment
• Help you organize those ideas
• Help you sharpen your critical thinking skills
• Help you re-learn all those grammar and punctuation rules you studied years ago
• Help you develop a more sophisticated writing style
• Help you integrate and document research materials.

What you need to do:
• Sign up for an appointment
• Bring a copy of your writing assignment and either your completed paper or rough notes
• Be prepared to work.

How you can become more involved in your own learning:

• Consider attending some of the new hour-long Writing Support Workshops scheduled throughout the academic year. These workshops will focus on the most common areas for which students generally seek help, such as how to generate ideas for papers, MLA and APA style, and elements of grammar and punctuation, etc. Look for posters announcing the semester-long schedule of dates, times and room numbers for workshops that will include repeat sessions for each topic.
  
• Consider submitting creative writings or photographs to the LAC student literary magazine, Sneakers, Stilettos, and Steeltoes. For more information, email Karen Hall.

Writing Center Consultants

Karen Hall, Writing Center Coordinator. Karen has been offering individual writing consultations at LAC since September 1997. Her professional background includes tutoring in and developing writing centers in Alaska and Bulgaria, teaching composition, literature, and creative writing courses, and writing/publishing fiction. Karen specializes in APA and MLA research projects and junior/senior/graduate level work.

Paul Manoff, Writing Programs Associate. Paul has worked privately as a writing and language consultant and as a public classroom educator for over twenty-five years at schools and colleges throughout Maine, including the former SMTC, Casco Bay and Andover Colleges, University of New England, and USM. He also has training and endorsements in teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) and experience teaching students in Germany and from a variety of other countries, including Somalia, Brazil, Russia, and Korea.

Bryan Brito, Writing Consultant. Our newest tutor, Bryan has taught Public Speaking, Argumentation, and Rhetorical Criticism at Northwestern and at Bates.  He currently teaches College Writing for LAC at Elan School.  Bryan holds a BA in Speech Communication from Pepperdine, an MA in Rhetoric and Communication from Northwestern, and is currently completing a PhD in Communication from Wayne State University.

Michelle Lisi, Writing Consultant. Michelle, after a brief stint as a volunteer tutor in the Writing Center, began teaching Critical Thinking at USM-LAC in the fall of 2004. She has now returned to the Writing Center, dividing the rest of her time between teaching Critical Thinking in Lewiston and Developmental Writing in Portland. Michelle holds an MFA in Fiction Writing from Columbia University and a BA in Communication and English.

Ian Ashland, Peer Writing Tutor. One of our new peer tutors, Ian is an Arts and Humanities major with a Creative Writing concentration, set to graduate in December 09’ with plans to continue with a M.F.A. in Creative Writing. He is a writer with a variety of interests including, but not limited to, short story, novel, screenplay, and play-writing. He has assisted students at the USM LAC campus writing center since the Spring 08’ semester and is familiar with many of the reading and writing assignments in both the Common Core and Arts and Humanities programs.  Ian is particularly skilled at providing feedback and helping to generate ideas, due in part to his specialized familiarity with much of the LAC curricula and course material. You can see a small sample of his creative work in the Spring 2008 edition of USM-LAC’s lit mag, Sneakers, Stilletos, and Steeltoes.

Jane Rossi, Peer Writing Consultant As a fourth year Social and Behavioral Science major, with career goals in the areas of academic advising or career counseling, Jane sees her role in the Writing Center as that of a peer mentor, not merely a writing tutor.  While working with students in the writing process, Jane draws from her own experiences as a non-traditional student to help her fellow students navigate the unfamiliar and, often, challenging expectations of academic life.  When not in the Writing Center, Jane can often be found next door, in the LearningWorks office, where she is also available to meet with students and answer questions.