Any currently enrolled SJSU student or faculty member may use the Writing Center services.
You may use our Online Reservation System to make appointments. The system allows you to view our schedule and set up an appointment at your convenience. If you need additional assistance, you can call us during our operating hours at 408-924-2308.
Because our schedule is impacted, the Center does not provide drop-in or walk-in appointments. Due to no-shows and cancellations, 5 - 15 appointments typically become available each day. If you wish to wait in person in the Center, you may take as many of these appointments as you wish.
The Writing Center is in Robert H. Clark Hall in Suite 126 on the first floor, past the Help Desk and to the right. Our Map page has more detailed directions.
Our hours during spring and fall semesters are Mondays-Thursdays from 09:30 - 17:30 and Fridays 09:30 - 12:30. Summer hours vary depending on demand, and we are not open during winter session. Our current opening hours are always listed on the Writing Center main page.
Before you come in, review the assignment and talk to your instructor about his or her expectations. You may want to do research in advance, write down an outline, or make some brief notes about your ideas.
Bring a hard copy of the writing that you want to work on, along with the prompt and details of your assignment, any preliminary research or notes, and a general idea of what you would like us to help you with.
Remember that you must bring your assignment already printed out -- the Writing Center does not provide printing services, and we do not work from laptops. If you do not have your assignment printed out and ready on time, you will lose your tutoring appointment.
When you arrive at the Writing Center, please check in with the Secretary at the front desk. When it's time for your appointment, your Writing Specialist will greet you and guide you to a table in our tutoring room.
Your Writing Specialist will ask you some questions to determine the purpose of and intended audience for your paper. He or she will then review your work or ask you to read it out loud. You will be guided through the process of organizing, clarifying, focusing, and developing your work. For a more detailed description of a standard tutoring session, see our page on tutoring.
Your tutoring session will last thirty minutes. If you are a graduate student or are registered with the DRC, we can arrange to give you one one-hour appointment per week.
You may make one appointment per day, with a maximum of two scheduled appointments per week. If you feel you need more time, you are welcome to come to the Center to wait for openings created by no-shows and canceled appointments.
No. The Writing Center is not a proofreading and editing service. You are responsible for your own proofreading and editing, but your Writing Specialist will help you identify problem areas and explain how to revise your paper.
If you give your name, contact information, and details on what kind of help you need to the Secretary, we will pass that information on to our Writing Specialists. If one of them is interested, that Writing Specialist will contact you privately.
Any further discussion is between you and the Writing Specialist. The Writing Center serves only as an initial point of contact. If you do not recieve a response, please understand that our Writing Specialists are quite busy, and they do not have to accept private tutoring offers. We do not tolerate harassment of the Writing Specialists or the Writing Center staff.
If you're interested in becoming a Writing Specialist, you can read about the qualifications and application process on our jobs page.
"Thank you for the work you are doing with my students--it really does make a difference in improving the students' writing skills!"
--Sue Berghoff, Lecturer, Language and Linguistics Department
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