Resources for Improving Writing
Completing the writing proficiency requirement represents a minimum level of proficiency. The Writing Program offers many resources to help you not only complete the writing requirement but also continue to improve as a writer throughout your undergraduate career.
Writing courses
All students are welcome to enroll in an expository writing course at any time if they wish to increase their skill and confidence in writing, and prepare themselves better for more challenging writing projects in their majors.
The Writing Program offers:
- Three levels of expository writing: English 105, 205, and 305.
- A number of special-focus courses, such as Practical Rhetoric (English 304), are designed to prepare students to tutor in the Writing Place.
All courses are described on the Writing Program's website.
Peer tutoring
The Writing Place is a peer tutoring center, located in the Core Library area of the Main University Library, that specializes in helping Northwestern students work on their writing. Writing Place consultants are talented undergraduates who are very good writers and who have been specially trained to help their peers at all stages of the writing process without writing the papers for them.
You are welcome to come to The Writing Place as often as you like, to work on specific papers or to address broader writing issues. Many students visit The Writing Place two or three times in the process of writing a paper to get help at various stages. Even very proficient writers benefit from talking through their ideas with a helpful listener or having a careful reader go over a draft.
Writing tip sheets and information are available on The Writing Place website.