Did you know that California College San Diego has a writing center where students can submit written assignments that will be proofread, annotated with suggested corrections, and a summarized feedback?
To access the writing center:
- From Canvas’ home page, Enter the Study Hall Academic Resource Center (SHARC)
- Click on “Writing Center”
- Enter your student credentials
- *If you have trouble with your student credentials contact the librarian (Patricia.Bermel@cc-sd.edu)
- You can choose to Make an Appointment or Submit a Paper
- An Appointment provides you with one-on-one help with writing assignments, perfect for students who need help getting started.
- Submit a Paper is for students who have already written a paper and want feedback before the final submission to the instructor. Follow the instructions on how to submit a paper and agree to the terms of service, then click “Submit Work.”
- According to the terms of service, if students submit on Saturday after 9am MST, feedback may not be received with the 24-48 hour window.
Update (06/01/2018): You must save your document using a unique name such as CourseCode_Assignmnt#_FirstLastname (example: CSS101_Assignment2_DruMacasieb). If you try and upload it using “Assignment 1” or a generic file name that others may use, you will get that it cannot be submitted.
- After submitting a paper, students must come back to the writing center to see if their document has been completed. Students will not receive an email or notification that their paper has been worked on. Instead, students must re-visit the writing center to check on the status of their paper.
Update (06/01/2018): If you have any questions or concerns about using the Writing Center, please contact the Writing Center Supervisor: Angela Sweeney–angela.sweeney@independence.edu and CC your instructor.
From personal experience, I have found that the writing center, no matter what reason for the feedback you chose, does an awesome job of providing feedback on the entire paper (APA formatting, grammar, sentence structure, ideas, organization etc.).
I have also found that the earlier I submit papers during the week, the faster the turned around time is. I submitted a paper on Tuesday around 6:00pm PST and got feedback on it 10:00am PST the next morning. I have also noticed that paper submitted toward the end of the week (Friday and Saturday) takes longer to get back, and the feedback is not as detailed as one turned in earlier (probably because they get a ton of submissions during the end of the week).
Another best practice is to submit both the Writing Center feedback and the final draft (with improvements) to your instructor. I’ve done this, and thus far have received full credit in all my written submissions.
When I was doing my Master’s, I advertised on Craigslist proofreading services. I basically would charge $5-$10 a page to proofread written papers. So having this service free to students just blows my mind.
The Writing Center is a valuable tool for all students. In my opinion, it is crucial to submit papers to the Writing Center before submitting final drafts as it almost guarantees full credit if the feedback is applied.
The Bulldog 