Smith Vidal Literacy & Language Center

Bowie State University’s Writing Center is here to help any BSU writer become stronger and more confident.

We would love to talk with you about your writing and help you take your next steps on your writing project.

As of the Fall 2024 semester, we are located in the *NEW* MLK Building in Room 3315.

Our peer consultants and professional staff can help you overcome challenges in any step of the writing process, whether that is understanding a prompt, conducting research, organizing ideas, creating a draft, integrating sources, revising work, or completing the final edits.

You can bring any writing project, including research papers, reports, annotated bibliographies, resumes, cover letters, creative writing, PowerPoint slides, etc.

We offer both in-person (face-to-face) and online (virtual) sessions where we meet one-to-one to address your specific concerns. In-person sessions are held in MLK 3315 (new building); online sessions are live/real-time and can include video, audio, and/or chat.

All sessions last up to 50 minutes and are booked online at bowiestate.mywconline.com.

When possible, we try to accommodate walk-ins too.

Grow as a Writer

The Writing Center at Smith Vidal Literacy and Language Center helps students become more effective and confident writers. Our goal is to engage the University community in conversations about writing. Growth and learning are the intended outcomes for each conversation.

Our writing consultants can assist you through all stages of the writing process with any type of writing task. Whether you are concerned with organization, development, formatting, documentation style or other conventions, we can help. Our consultants, however, will not edit or revise your documents; you are ultimately responsible for your own writing.

 

What We Offer

• One-to-one sessions (both in-person and online)                                                    
• Small group sessions
• Group workshops
• Short in-class visits
• Writing and grammar resources

We Help Students

• Understand writing assignments
• Overcome writing challenges
• Develop and research essay topics
• Document research in MLA and APA styles
• Become more confident and effective writers

Tutoring Sessions

• Sessions are by appointment and last up to 50 minutes.
• Sessions will only be as successful as the amount of effort you put into them.

Appointment Procedures for Sessions

1. Log into our Writing Center Appointment Scheduler
2. Register for an account
3. Sign in to choose a consultant and an appointment time
4. Select either an online or an in-person session
5. Submit your essay draft or writing sample, if available
6. Met your consultant by either:
   1. coming to our Writing Center in MLK 3315 (new building) about 5-10 minutes before your in-person appointment
   2. logging back in to your account and click on "Start or Join Online Consultation" 5-10 minutes before your online appointment

Getting Help Registering, Booking an Appointment, or Attending Online

If you might need help, come in to MLK 3315 (new building), call us at (301) 860-3720, email us at writingcenter@bowiestate.edu, or watch our quick videos on how to:

Register for your online account
Book an appointment to meet face-to-face or online
Attend your online appointment

How to Have a Successful Session

We have a few suggestions to help make your tutoring session more successful. If possible (and we understand it might not always be possible!), we highly recommend you:

• Have any textbooks/resources you might need ready at hand
• Upload any/all of the following documents (attach documents when you book your appointmentor afterwards by clicking on “edit appointment”):
  • your writing assignment/prompt
  • any draft(s) you might have completed
  • a grading rubric from your professor
• For online sessions, Use a computer with...
  • a reliable internet connection
  • a video camera
  • a microphone

As always, WC rules and policies still apply to all sessions:

• If tutees are 15 minutes (or more) late to a session, they will be marked as a "no-show" and may be subject to rescheduling
• Tutors and tutees must abide by the student code of conduct, BSU COVID-19 protocols, and have appropriate online behavior