A Busy Center
Need for Online Tutoring
4
Satellite
Campuses
“Centers”
400
unique
online courses
Our Online Writing Lab (OWL)
owl@utm.edu
Started in
2003
Designated
response time
OWL Policies
For UTM students
not public
Mostly for
quick questions
not entire papers
24-hour
turnaround
Example of Response
Hi Briana, you may quote 1-3 lines of poetry by working them into your paragraph. Use the slash to show the line breaks, like this:
Reflecting on the "incident" in Baltimore, Cullen concludes, "Of all the things that happened there / That's all that I remember" (11-12).
In the example sentence above, a single word from the poem is placed in quote marks ("incident") as well as two full lines of text separated with a slash. The numbers refer to the actual line
numbers, not page numbers. The attribution (Cullen) is also worked into the sentence with a strong present tense verb (concludes) to introduce the quoted lines. This is the preferred method, for it
is very readable and graceful.
If you choose to quote more than three lines, you must separate them from your paragraph. Reproduce the line breaks and unusual indenting or spacing as much as possible. Don't use the slash or
quote marks. Here is an example:
Elizabeth Bishop's "In the Waiting Room" is rich in evocative detail:
It was winter. It got dark early.
The waiting room was full
of grown-up people,
artists and overcoats,
lamps and magazine. (6-10)
As I said, try to reproduce what you see in the original poem's layout as much as possible, but there are logical exceptions. You will double space unless the instructor tells you not to or unless
unusual spacing is part of the poem's meaning. Usually you indent the lines one inch, but you may have to play around with that, too. (Some instructors prefer you to indent closer to the center of
the page, but not to center every line). Notice that a full sentence sets up the quote with attribution (Bishop's name and title of poem) and features some key word or phase (evocative detail) to
signal what is so special about the quote. Once you finish quoting, go back to your regular format and comment upon the quote.
In general, the more lines you quote, the more you should discuss the passage in detail. No quote is self-evident; you must comment upon or explain the significance or relevance of the quote. Some
instructors do not like long quotes because they look as if you are simply padding the paper. It takes more skill to work a line or two into the grammar of your own sentence and paragraph than it
is to set off a longer passage as a big block.
I got these examples from the latest MLA style manual, page 95. Any good grammar book with a chapter on literary analysis or MLA style will show you some examples.
Hope that helps,
Beta-Tested
BreezeLive
Distance Learning Classroom
(Adobe Connect
Pro)
with audio/video
online conferencing/
meeting room
Microsoft
Word
comment
feature
Our Distance Learning Classroom
Featuring Document Reader, Video and Audio
Goldilocks?
BreezeLive
Distance Classroom
=
“Too Easy”
=
“Too Hard”
Docs
=
“Just Right”
Other Options?
Free
Chat-Based
audio/video
tech
SmartBoard /
Whiteboard Tech
Microsoft Link
GoToMeeting
Skype
Open Source
Tech
Moodle
More Info?
Ask Online
Tailored tutoring
uses Skype,
attachment feature,
color-coded
comments
Moodle
Open Source Course
Management software
like Blackboard
Sentence
Works
now
Grammarly.com
GoToMeeting
Video
conferencing
Which One?
Christine Rosalia concludes,
“…it is not so important which technology
or bundle of technologies the peer advisors use,
but rather, that peer advisors are active participants
in the initial and the continued choosing
of technological solutions” (26-27).
Rosalia, Christine. “So You Want to Start a Peer Online Writing Center?”
Studies in Self-Access Learning Journal 4.1 (2013): 17-42.
Policies On…?
Investing
money & time
in software,
equipment,
&
training?
Scheduling
appointments?
Accepting
submissions?
Forms?
Handling nonstudents?
Google Hangouts
It’s FREE!
in Google Drive
Requires appointment
&
some computer savvy
Has
screenshare
Our Paper Record
Writing Center Visit Record
Please sign in and out at the door, too.
Student’s Full Name (Print clearly.)_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Course _________________
Instructor____________
Date_______________________________________
Section number __________
Arrival Time__________
Check-out Time______________________________
Optional: Total Time in Center_________________
Reason for Visit
____Participated in Writing Workshop (Describe Topic):
____Worked on English or Writing Activity/Assignment (Describe):
Tutoring with Staff (Describe):
_____________Used Computer
Tutoring: _______________ minutes
Writing Center Staff Signature_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________