Writing Center FAQs What is the Writing Center and where is it located? The Writing Center is designed to offer assistance in English writing skills to all our HS students. Academic standards at SAS are challenging and good writing is the basis of getting your knowledge across.
Puxi Campus The Writing Center is located on the third floor of the HS building in Mr. Koontz's room, directly across the corridor from the top of the staircase. It is open M-Th 3 - 4:30 pm
Pudong Campus The Writing Center (Room H104) is located on the first floor of the HS building, just down the hallway from the HS office.
At what times of the day is the Writing Center open?
The Writing Center is currently open during most blocks of the school day as well as after school from 3:00-4:15PM, Monday to Friday.
Do we need to make an appointment or can we just come in when we need to? Although you may be lucky enough to walk in and get help without a prior appointment, we suggest you sign up beforehand on the appointment sheet outside the center so that you can be sure to get the attention you need. It gets really busy after school, and you may find there is no time slot available to you just when you need it most.
Do you provide support only for ESOL students? Although we make sure that our ESOL students get the extra support they need, we encourage all students from 9th-12th grade to come in as and when they need to. We have a number of students who come in regularly to seek assistance with their IB English essays and written commentaries, Social Studies assignments, and college admission essays amongst other things. We will also share with you some great online resources that you can make use of in your own time to practice your skills.
What exactly is it you do inside the Writing Center? At the Writing Center we provide assistance in the development of individual writing skills. Our aim is to help you to help yourself by first identifying, and then developing, skills that will make you a better writer of English. Part of the process will involve focusing on specific areas of concern in your work so that you will know what to look out for in the future. We will direct you to think about what it is that you are trying to accomplish in your writing.
How can we get individual attention when you have more than one student working at a time? We are fortunate to have a number of competent seniors and juniors who are familiar with the requirements of your writing assignments. All our peer tutors have been recommended by their English teachers and are well-qualified to provide support.
Will you edit our final drafts before we hand in our assignments? We are happy to set you on your way but we will not do all your editing for you. Those of us who work in the center are already good editors; if we do the editing we just get better at it. So, while we will give you feedback on your whole draft, we will close-edit the single page you feel needs the most attention. It is then your responsibility to recognize patterns of error and apply them to the rest of your paper. And, of course, you must attach a copy of the edited draft to your final work when you hand it in to your subject teacher. It is important that you keep ownership of your writing.
Which areas of my writing can you help me with? We will work with you to identify skills that you need to make you a better editor of your own writing. Areas of focus may include: Fluency, Coherence and Clarity Eliminating Wordiness Essay/ Paragraph Organization Sentence Structure and Tense Consistency
Can you help me with my college essay? Of course. And while we look at your essays and make our suggestions, we will emphasize that it is your voice that the college admissions officer needs to hear, not ours!
What do I need to bring with me? You will need to bring in as much detail as possible on your specific task: teacher handouts, previous drafts, assignment rubrics and teacher comments indicating your specific problem areas. And, you will need to tell us exactly what you are trying to accomplish, and where you are in that process - thinking, reading, brain-storming, drafting, revising or editing. Remember that assistance is most helpful at the early thinking/planning stages of your assignment; it’s frustrating to discover right at the end that your entire focus has been wrong.
What is the Writing Center and where is it located?
The Writing Center is designed to offer assistance in English writing skills to all our HS students. Academic standards at SAS are challenging and good writing is the basis of getting your knowledge across.
Puxi Campus
The Writing Center is located on the third floor of the HS building in Mr. Koontz's room, directly across the corridor from the top of the staircase. It is open M-Th 3 - 4:30 pm
Pudong Campus
The Writing Center (Room H104) is located on the first floor of the HS building, just down the hallway from the HS office.
At what times of the day is the Writing Center open?
The Writing Center is currently open during most blocks of the school day as well as after school from 3:00-4:15PM, Monday to Friday.
Do we need to make an appointment or can we just come in when we need to?
Although you may be lucky enough to walk in and get help without a prior appointment, we suggest you sign up beforehand on the appointment sheet outside the center so that you can be sure to get the attention you need. It gets really busy after school, and you may find there is no time slot available to you just when you need it most.
Do you provide support only for ESOL students?
Although we make sure that our ESOL students get the extra support they need, we encourage all students from 9th-12th grade to come in as and when they need to. We have a number of students who come in regularly to seek assistance with their IB English essays and written commentaries, Social Studies assignments, and college admission essays amongst other things.
We will also share with you some great online resources that you can make use of in your own time to practice your skills.
What exactly is it you do inside the Writing Center?
At the Writing Center we provide assistance in the development of individual writing skills. Our aim is to help you to help yourself by first identifying, and then developing, skills that will make you a better writer of English.
Part of the process will involve focusing on specific areas of concern in your work so that you will know what to look out for in the future. We will direct you to think about what it is that you are trying to accomplish in your writing.
How can we get individual attention when you have more than one student working at a time?
We are fortunate to have a number of competent seniors and juniors who are familiar with the requirements of your writing assignments. All our peer tutors have been recommended by their English teachers and are well-qualified to provide support.
Will you edit our final drafts before we hand in our assignments?
We are happy to set you on your way but we will not do all your editing for you. Those of us who work in the center are already good editors; if we do the editing we just get better at it. So, while we will give you feedback on your whole draft, we will close-edit the single page you feel needs the most attention. It is then your responsibility to recognize patterns of error and apply them to the rest of your paper. And, of course, you must attach a copy of the edited draft to your final work when you hand it in to your subject teacher.
It is important that you keep ownership of your writing.
Which areas of my writing can you help me with?
We will work with you to identify skills that you need to make you a better editor of your own writing. Areas of focus may include:
Fluency, Coherence and Clarity
Eliminating Wordiness
Essay/ Paragraph Organization
Sentence Structure and Tense Consistency
Can you help me with my college essay?
Of course. And while we look at your essays and make our suggestions, we will emphasize that it is your voice that the college admissions officer needs to hear, not ours!
What do I need to bring with me?
You will need to bring in as much detail as possible on your specific task: teacher handouts, previous drafts, assignment rubrics and teacher comments indicating your specific problem areas. And, you will need to tell us exactly what you are trying to accomplish, and where you are in that process - thinking, reading, brain-storming, drafting, revising or editing. Remember that assistance is most helpful at the early thinking/planning stages of your assignment; it’s frustrating to discover right at the end that your entire focus has been wrong.