NIU’s Writing Center is a service for all levels of students having problems with research papers, expository papers and also non-English papers.

The center is staffed by two English faculty members—Center Director Andrea Carlson and David Charbonneau—and has been running for five years. Carlson said the center probably has helped 50 to 55 students this semester. However, many do use the service on a regular basis.

Carlson said, “A student might be referred to us by a teacher or they might hear of us from another student.”

Carlson, who started working at the center this semester, said the number of students who have used the center’s services has remained “pretty steady” since the third week of the semester.

Although freshmen probably use the center more than other students, the center is not limited to their use. Graduate students also have used the writing center.

“We help with any phase of the writing process, like the strategies of research and the organization of ideas. We are not a proofreading service.

“We suggest ideas, but we won’t fix it (the problem),” Carlson said.

The writing center is open this semester on Mondays and Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays in Reavis 306A. Carlson said next semester’s schedule is not available yet.

Carlson said that, in the past, the center has been called the “writing clinic,” but “we wanted to change that image and be considered more user-friendly.

“Many students come in and expect a lecture on punctuation, we tell them to take three steps back.”