Alabama A&M University Writing Center
Srinath Musukula
Auburn University
320, West Glenn Ave, Apt # D, Auburn, AL
e-mail address:musuksr@auburn.edu
Bharath Ananthula
Auburn University
250, West Glenn Ave, Apt # 3, Auburn, AL 36830
e-mail address: anantbh@auburn.edu
ABSTRACT
page has links to other pages of writing center website. In
fact every page has link to all other pages. When a
particular left side link is clicked browser opens that page
and color of that link changes to white indicating the
opened page. Home page contains information about the
services provided by the writing center at Alabama A&M
University .It also specifies the location, Mission, history
and philosophy of writing center. There is also a link (Let
us know) students can make suggestion to webmaster in
The interface, we develop, for the writing center is the web
based system which provides the user with assistance on a
wide variety of communication projects like classroom
assignments, abstracts, conference proposals, Etc. The
writing center web system provides the user with writing
resources, teaching resources and writing workshops. The
conceptual model of the user interface is developed to
illustrate the web-based system. The validate conceptual
model allow us to develop the interface. The final stage of
the design of the interface includes the pilot testing and
usability testing.
Author Keywords
Writing Center, Conceptual Model, Writing Resources,
Pilot Testing and Usability Testing, Writing Workshops.
INTRODUCTION
The Writing Center at Alabama A&M University is web
based interface, typically provides students with assistance
on a wide variety of communication projects, including but
not limited to: classroom assignments, application essays,
abstracts, journal articles, conference proposals. The
Writing Center web site contains over Megabytes of
writing-related material, with new material being added
very frequently. The web site contains hypertext workshops
and subject tutorials on writing research papers, resumes,
and cover letters, huge collections of links to help users find
information on the Internet, PowerPoint presentations about
all aspects of writing that can be downloaded for use in
classes or individual study, and a voluminous quantity of
web pages that cover all aspects of writing – from cover
letters to commas.
Figure 1. The home page of writing center
order to make website more interactive. So, it basically
gives an introduction to writing center at Alabama A&M
University.
WRITING CENTER PROGRAMS PAGE
This page mentions all the programs provided by writing
center for undergraduate and graduate students at Alabama
A&M University. The program supports both students and
faculty in writing-intensive courses. It places
undergraduates in positions of intellectual leadership,
emphasizes the significance of writing skills, and applies
the concept of peer mentoring to the process of writing
papers. It also creates new opportunities for intellectual
exchange between and among students and faculty. For
each program It also mentions in detail the requirements
and eligibility criteria. Writing center programs mainly aim
at improving particular type of skills in students.So,there
are wide variety of programs for undergraduate and
graduate students. Below shown figure specifies how
programs page is implemented .When clicked on programs
link, a drop down box appears showing links to different
REQUIREMENTS
This site is best viewed using Internet Explorer (6.0 or
above) or Mozilla (1.4 or above) and is best viewed at XGA
resolution or higher. Some pages on this site use JavaScript,
Flash, and Adobe Acrobat Reader.
WRITING CENTER HOME PAGE
The home page contains the introduction of the writing
center as shown in Figure 1. The header of home page
contains the icon and caption of Alabama A&M University.
This Website is designed in consistent to the existing web
pages of Alabama A&M University. The left side of the
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available programs. Clicking on respective links gives
details about that particular program.So, basically this page
provides information about the list of programs,
requirements for each program and description of programs
which makes students choose appropriate program easily.
teachers of writing. Many of these links are annotated, with
pointers to good places to start, representative sites, and
sites that contain specific types of resources
The undergraduate writing resources in which students,
prepared in course work and field experiences, not only
assist their peers in the Center and online with
brainstorming, drafting, revising, and editing writing for
courses across the disciplines but also conduct workshops
in classrooms and residence halls and provide sustained
assistance in courses across the curriculum in which faculty
are using writing extensively to engage their students in
active learning;
The graduate writing resources in which graduate students
provide writing workshop support in one-on-one or smallgroup sessions to undergraduates and faculty members as
well as to graduate students who are composing papers,
theses, dissertations, and articles for publication;
The internet writing resources in which undergraduates,
graduate students, and faculty writing consultants (1)
conduct workshops for classes in the Center and in
computer classrooms across the university, (2) conduct
workshops and institutes for faculty who are integrating
World Wide Web research and publication into their
courses across the curriculum, and (3) make a wide range of
resources available to writers on the center's home page;
Figure2: Programs at Writing Center
WRITING CENTER RESOURCES PAGE
This page has a large amount of data collection which
helps students in every aspect of writing. Resources are
categorized into resources provided by the writing center at
Alabama A&M University and Resources on the internet.
FACULTY
The photo and the contact information of every faculty and
staff of Department of English are embedded in the faculty
page as shown in figure 4. To get help in writing, the user
needs to contact the faculty either through e-mail or phone.
The user gets the contact information of the faculty from
this page. This page contains links to every other page of
writing center. The information about the faculty and staff
is sorted in alphabetical order. This facility gives the user
an easy way to access the contact information of a
particular faculty or staff member. The user also has
another means for searching the contact information of a
particular faculty or staff member. The user can scroll down
the scroll bar to find the required information.
In addition to face-to-face and online consultations, Writing
Center Personnel also provide instructional support to
faculty through class visits.
Figure 3. Resources page
Resources provided by writing center lead to PDF files and
any tutorial .Resources on internet leads to writing center
WebPages maintained by other universities and
Organizations. So, basically this page helps student in
completing their writing assignment in this way writing
center resource page acts as virtual tutor.
In addition, faculty who assign communication assignments
such as written reports, papers, or oral presentations, are
invited to provide the Writing Center with copies of syllabi
and course assignment sheets so that consultants can be
better prepared to assist their students.
Our collection of links to other Internet-based resources
provides access to a wide range of resources for writers and
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information about the courses offered in coming semester
by the Department of English.
Figure 4. Faculty page
Figure 6. Course page
NEWS
The click on news link will get the user to news web pages
shown in the figure 5. The news page consists of the
information about the events and holidays of the
Department of English. The events are sorted in order of
day and month. The user can scroll down the scroll bar in
order to find the information about the events in a particular
month. The webmaster is allowed to update the events
calendar regularly. The webpage also consist details about
the upcoming workshops, so that the students can register to
workshop by contacting the particular faculty member.
CONCLUSION
We have successfully designed and made conceptual model
of the website for writing center at Alabama A&M
University. We would be making some changes to the
present conceptual model according to client specifications
and these will be reflected in the implementation. We in
progress to develop a better interface for writing center
.Which will be helpful to students in successfully
completing their tasks. The main objective of this web
based writing center is to support and encourage students in
improving their writing skills.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We thank Dr. Cheryl D. Seals who provided helpful
comments and support in designing this interface. Some of
the references cited in this paper are included for illustrative
purposes only.
REFERENCES
1. Purdue online writing center.
http://www.owl.english.purdue.edu/.
2. Uw-madison writing center homepage
www.wisc.edu/writing/
3. The Department of English at the University of
Maryland College Park http://www.english.umd.edu/
4. The Writing Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
www.rpi.edu/dept/llc/writecenter/web/handouts.html
Figure 5. News page
COURSE PAGE
The course page is shown in the figure 6. The course page
layout is in consistent in color and design with the existing
other web pages of the writing center. This page has the
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