The writing center offers peer tutoring to all Marquette students, staff, and faculty working on any and all writing projects.
The heart of what we do is meet with writers to talk, one-on-one, about writing in progress. You are welcome to bring anything from first year English papers to graduate theses, from history papers to personal statements for law school. No matter where you are in the writing process--even if you just don't know where to start--we can help. We see writers in 30- or 60-minute sessions. Walk-ins are always welcome, but because we get busy, we recommend that you schedule your appointment ahead of time when possible.
The Ott Memorial Writing Center will offer free workshops for writers on a variety of topics. Please click here for a an overview of workshop dates, times, and locations; you can also click the links below to learn more about the workshops (files to be updated soon):
To register for these workshops, please call 288-5542.
Have you considered teaching with writing, but aren't quite ready to take the plunge? Do you assign writing and want to talk with others about your ideas and strategies for success? Come to our monthly workshops on writing, open to all faculty, instructional staff, and teaching assistants.
Do you need to get more writing done but have trouble scheduling blocks of time? Do you find writing lonely and would you prefer to write in the company of other writers? Did you know that in a study conducted by Robert Boice, writers who wrote in regularly scheduled blocks (rather than waiting to feel inspired) produced three times as much text and reported enjoying writing more? Because many writers would benefit from more structure and less solitude as they write, we invite graduate student writers to participate in a new program being offered by the Ott Memorial Writing Center: graduate student writing groups.
TDuring each weekly meeting, a facilitator helps participants to set goals and report on progress; then participants sit and write in companionable silence. Each meeting time has a suggested disciplinary focus, but all writers are entirely welcome to attend any session.
The writing center started in the mid-seventies with a CETA Grant and operated in Coughlin Hall, in the English Department. Still housed in the English Department, we moved first to Monitor Hall. In 2003 we moved to the Raynor Library.
In 1987, the family of Norman H. Ott endowed the writing center, in memory of Norman's great love of poetry, hoping to foster writing of all kinds at Marquette.