For Students

Your Professor’s Office Hours

Many new college students don’t realize that all faculty at Colby hold “office hours”–a few hours each week scheduled just for meeting with students–that you may use to talk about a concept, a new assignment, research ideas etc. Going to your professors’ office hours is a good way to learn their expectations and to ask specific questions you might not want to raise in class.

Tip: When it comes to writing assignments, “Could you read this paper and tell me what you think?” is too big a question. Instead, come prepared with a couple specific questions OR ask your professor to review your introduction, the first page of a draft, or your list of research sources.

Farnham Writers’ Center (FWC) Tutors

The Farnham Writers’ Center supports writing at Colby through peer writing tutoring, faculty support, and special events. Trained peer writing tutors will work with you on all aspects of writing from brainstorming to revising a draft to polishing a final project. Writers’ Center tutors use a “non-directive” approach, so they will ask you to remain the owner and expert on your writing rather than “fixing” your paper for you. Peer writing tutors are trained to produce better writers, not just better papers.

The Writers’ Center is on the second floor of Miller Library in Room 206. It is open Monday to Thursday 10:00AM-Midnight & Sunday 2:00PM-Midnight. You can schedule an appointment here.

Writing Fellows

Many W1s have a dedicated writing tutor, called a Writing Fellow, assigned to the course. Get to know your Fellow! He/she can discuss your assignments and ideas, review paper comments, and help with drafts. Some hold set “office hours,” while others meet students by appointment.

WP112 Expository Writing Workshop

Writing Department faculty coordinate WP112, a non-graded, one-credit course for individualized one-to-one writing help; it is designed for students who would like extra help with a writing-intensive course, theses, or assignments. WP112 students must meet once weekly with the same tutor for a total of ten sessions during the semester.

Research Librarians

Colby’s librarians are also an important resource for writing that you might not think of at first. They can be the key to helping you find research and information beyond Google and Wikipedia (which your professors will usually require). They can also tell you about the research databases and books owned by Colby’s libraries, help you create good search terms, and show you how to narrow your search so that you don’t get thousands of results. Colby has three libraries: Miller (Humanities and Social Sciences), Olin (Natural Sciences), and Bixler (Art and Music). Expert librarians work in each building. The libraries’ home page can also help you get started.

For More Information or Questions:

Colby Writing Department Director, Stacey Sheriff, PhD. ([email protected])
Farnham Writers’ Center Director, Ghada Gherwash, PhD. ([email protected])