The Writing Center staff will come to your class and lecture on a variety of writing-related topics and/or run peer review/writing workshops (see list below for some of your options). Please submit your request to Amy Kuehl (ak1198@txstate.edu).  We must receive your request 48 hours in advance.

• After the Thesis Statement: Many writers succeed with thesis statements to then discover they do not know how to organize or close the paper once they reach a final draft stage.  This class offers practical techniques for polishing essays.

• Beyond the Five Paragraph Essay: So many first-year students have learned the myth of “five paragraphs a paper make.”  In this workshop, the participants become the teacher/grader and edit a five paragraph paper together in order to learn how to expand and correctly write an essay that moves beyond the five-paragraph theme.

• Close Reading Techniques: This brief overview of approaches to texts is designed to create additional perspectives for writers to consider as they read class assignments and draft essays.

• Developing a Strong Thesis:  In this workshop, participants learn how to construct strong thesis statements. We will also demonstrate how having strong theses facilitates the drafting process. All participants will bring one thesis statement to work on during the workshop.

• Grammar and Mechanics: So many students arrive in an English class only to discover their limitations in grammar and mechanics. Where else can they learn these skills? The Writing Center gives them these basics and shows them continuing resources for self improvement.

• Preparing for the Essay Exam: Although most students fear essay exams, in this workshop we stress that with preparation they can change essay exams from exercises in terror into an opportunity to show their professor how much they've learned.

• Producing Effective Personal Statements: When applying to graduate school, many students dread writing the personal statements they must compose as part of the application process. In this workshop, participants will read and evaluate a variety of personal statements before they workshop their own personal statements.

• Quotations, Citations, and Plagiarism: The ins and outs of this frustrating but essential writing skill and concern are taught in this workshop, plus a discussion of how to incorporate these supporting facts with the writer’s own ideas.

• Researching the Web: As with dating, when using the Internet it pays to be selective. This course shows participants how to evaluate web sites, cite Internet sources, and make the most of the online sources available through the Texas State Alkek Library web site.

• Writing with Style: In this workshop, students will learn how to make their papers clear, direct, and interesting by beefing up their writing style.