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Here are some of the frequently asked questions about the Purdue writing lab, tutorial services, our website, our online tutoring services, and using OWL materials. Got a question for us that's not on this page? Visit our contact page and send us some email.
Here are some of the Writing Lab's most popular services. Visit our lab page for complete information about all the services we provide.
Thousands of Purdue students, especially good writers, come to the Lab because they know it's useful to talk about what they're writing and to get some feedback. Bring in any kind of writing assignment for any class or any other writing project, such as your resume, cover letter, application essay, etc.
Talking with a tutor helps a writer clarify and organize his or her thoughts. The most frequently repeated comment on student evaluations is that the tutorial helps the writer formulate her own ideas. Often students also note that they were particularly pleased that they found their own answers and that the tutor did not do the work for them.
Come before you start a paper to discuss the topic.
Come with a draft you're working on.
Don't come with a finished draft that's due soon. You won't be able to make significant changes that will occur to you after talking with a tutor.
For drop-in, come during less busy hours, such as 10:00 AM, at noon, or after 3:00 PM. You are less likely to have to wait. You're even less likely to have to wait if you make an appointment.
Come to 226 Heavilon Hall or call (765) 494-3723.
We encourage students to realize that one half-hour appointment isn't going to make a vast improvement in their writing. But several appointments does make a difference. However, we've found that some students who make a number of weekly appointments forget about those long-term commitments and don't show up for the appointments they've made weeks ago. A quick count of no-shows during the months of October and November indicates that 65 students who made appointments far in advance did not come in for those appointments. That means 65 other students were turned away because our appointment book was full.
To alleviate this problem (we hope), we have adopted the following policy: students can only make a series of appointments for three weeks at a time. They can, of course, make more appointments as the weeks go by, but we hope that this will reduce the number of no-shows.
We can't proofread a paper for you. That would make us better editors, but wouldn't help you become a better writer. But, we will help you learn how to be a better proofreader.
If you are a teacher, you could try offering extra credit for tutorial visits or attendance at In-Lab Workshops. We send a note to teachers when their students visit the Writing Lab.
You ask some questions and we ask some questions, such as what you want help with. We may read only part of your paper or all of it, and you talk about your writing concerns. We answer your questions. We talk with you about strategies you can use. We offer personal help with planning, revising, and any other aspect of your writing. We don't write papers for you, but we help you write better ones.
See our tutorials page for more information.
Come in with some definite questions. If possible, bring a writing sample or a draft of what you're writing so that we can meet your specific needs.
When students work with a tutor, we will send out a note to the instructor, informing him/her that you came to the Lab (unless you request otherwise), listing the topics we worked on together. Most teachers appreciate these notes -- and many give extra points for motivation and effort.
We changed the site layout so that we could more easily group related items together. For example, it made more sense to put all the handouts together instead of dividing them into teacher and student handouts.
We moved a lot of files around and renamed quite a few of them. If you can't find the file in one of the new categories, try doing a keyword search for it.
This website is a product of the Purdue University Writing Lab. If you want to read more about OWL and the people who work here, visit our OWL page.
If you want to report a broken link or another kind of problem with the website, email problem@owl.english.purdue.edu. It may take us some time to respond to your query.
You can email writing-related questions to this form. Make sure that you've looked over our OWL services page first, to familiarize yourself with the kinds of questions we can answer.
The tutors at the Purdue University Writing Lab are glad to work with writers on all sorts of writing projects. We'll answer questions about a text's organization, its focus, its readers, and so on. We'll also respond to questions about research techniques, documentation, and mechanics (such as spelling and grammar).
If you are a Purdue student, we can read a draft and comment on it in an extended tutorial kind of fashion. We will gladly work online with non-Purdue students, but we lack the resources to engage in an extended tutorial. We are happy to answer one-time questions, though, from anybody.
We don't proofread papers. That would make us better proofreaders, but that wouldn't make you a better writer. We also won't write a paper for you, or provide you with a pre-written paper, so please don't ask.
You can link to this site and any of the files in it without asking our permission. However, you can't "mirror" the site or copy any parts of it onto any website that you own. For more information, please see our fair use policy.
You are welcome to print out OWL materials for your personal use as long as our attributing information remains intact. If you are making a large number of copies to distribute, or if you are reproducing OWL in another form, you may need to get our permission. See our fair use policy for further details.
You may print and distribute pages of the Purdue OWL's instructional materials (our handouts) at no charge if the materials are for educational purposes only. However, you may print no more than 50 copies of each document and copies of no more than 10 separate documents. If you wish to make more than 50 copies of a document or wish to copy more than 10 documents, contact us as there is a small licensing fee that may be be required.
If you need to contact someone about getting permission to use OWL materials, please visit our contact information page.
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owl home || writing lab and owl || handouts || workshops and presentations || internet resources This page is located at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/lab/faq.html
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University and Purdue University. All rights reserved. To contact OWL, please refer to our contact information page so that you email the appropriate person. Requests for help sent to the wrong address may not receive a timely response.
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