Writing help is at your fingertips

Writing – the foundation for just about everything. But writing can be kind of a scary thing for some people. Sort of like asking writers to do math, expecting non-writers to write, and prolifically as a student is intimidating, especially in the realm of academic writing. Even writers themselves sometimes are intimated about an upcoming project that has to be, well, written.

Learning to write well is critical, not only to your success as a student, but in life overall. It’s something we don’t often think about until we come across something that is so well-written, even something simple like an insert in your electric bill, that we pause to read and appreciate it.

If it has been awhile since you have written anything beyond a shopping list, or if you don’t feel you are as strong of a writer as you would like to be, there are several resources available to you at the University of Oklahoma.

The Writing Center at OU is a good place to start. Located in the beautiful new Wagner Hall across from Oklahoma Memorial Union, the center is staffed with writing consultants who are available on a walk-in basis or by appointment and are ready to provide support for all OU writers.

You can get feedback on a project already underway, or help before you even start with some pre-writing tips, learn about uses of style, plagiarism and academic integrity, to name a few. There is also an online submission option available through the center that serves distance students in particular.

The center originated in 1987 with a gathering of OU faculty, funded by a Ford Foundation grant. The writing center partners with a lot of people on campus to support a campus-wide writing initiative, so-called “writing across the curriculum” which has the stamp of approval from the provost and the president.

Bizzell Memorial Library also has a number of resources to help you in your academic journey. In fact, there is a section on the library website devoted to College of Liberal Studies students. This is where you will find helpful instructions on using library services, how to search the library and how to use library databases.

You may not be on campus, but all of the services OU offers in support of its students are available to you as well.