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The Writing Learning Center

Professor Gillian Paku, Director
Michele Feeley, Administrator 

 

Where is the Writing Learning Center?

The Writing Learning Center is in the Center for Academic Excellence located on the first floor of Milne Library is open Monday - Friday, 1:00 pm-5:00 pm, Monday-Thursday 8:00 pm-11:00 pm and Sunday 3:00 pm-9:00 pm. Students are seen on a walk-in basis (first-come, first-served.)

 

The WLC will be open for regular hours through study day-May 8

additional hours:
Sunday, May 12 2:00-5:00 
Monday May 13 11:00-5:00

Who Will Work With Me?

The Writing Learning Center is staffed by experienced student writers from a variety of academic disciplines. All WLC tutors have been formally trained and are available to help you:

  • Get started, brainstorm
  • Organize your thoughts
  • Write a thesis statement
  • Develop ideas
  • Tackle grammar and style problems
  • Cite sources

What Should I Expect?

When you arrive at the Writing Learning Center, you will meet one-on-one with a trained tutor for 30 minutes. WLC tutors will not proofread a paper for you. We will not write your assignments.

We will give you examples of how to proceed; the point is to help you find your own personalized solution.

What About Confidentiality?

Here at the Writing Learning Center, we believe your choice to seek tutoring is a private one. Our staff respects your confidentiality. Seeking out a writing tutor is a good, productive choice. When you ask for help at the WLC, you are taking advantage of a service that most everyone uses to their benefit at some point in their academic career. The WLC has Macintosh and PC computers reserved for tutor/client sessions. Bring your disk and work directly on-screen with a writing tutor.

How Can I Get the Most Out of the WLC?

The WLC is open to serve you and help you get the most out of your writing potential. Come prepared. Bring your assignment sheet with you, along with any other relevant textbooks or research materials. You don't have to have something written before you show up. It's helpful to bring whatever you might have in order to make your visit most effective. Be prepared to spend time on your work.

A session at the Writing Learning Center, while rewarding, can be an intense experience for both you and your tutor. Come more than once. Seek out a particular tutor with whom you work well, or try a variety of tutors if you need a different perspective.

The Writing Learning Center is the place to get help on all types of writing assignments such as:

  • essays
  • research papers
  • business writing exams
  • lab reports
  • speeches
  • public service announcements
  • film and music reviews
  • news articles
  • cover letters
  • resumes
  • applications
  • scholarship and grant proposals

The Writing Learning Center has books on referencing for all academic disciplines, including MLA, APA, and Turabian styles.

Who Are the Tutors?

Katie Baum is a sophomore English and Adolescent Education major from Rochester. This is her first semester working in the Writing Learning Center and she is very excited to start tutoring. As a future high school English teacher Katie is ready to answer any and all questions and assist with papers to the best of her ability. She believes everyone is capable of writing a successful paper and is ready to help students on their road there!

Connor Burgevin is a senior English and French double major. He specializes in working with international students, although he is more than happy to help anyone who happens to stumble into the writing center. He strongly believes the following mantra: "There are no great writers in academia, only great re-writers." In other words, editing and re-editing are essential to success at the university level. In his free time (not that this actually exists), he enjoys either playing frisbee on the college green and doing Bhangra. He plans to teach English internationally and to receive his TESOL certification in the near future.


Megan Cicolello is a senior English and Psychology major with a background in creative writing. When writing essays, she emphasizes having a strong outline beforehand and revising, revising, revising. She greatly enjoys making her own ice cream, watching and rewatching episodes of Dexter and staring off into space.


Deven Coulter is a junior double majoring in Childhood with Special Education and English literature. When she isn't living in Club Milne, she is running, eating chocolate, or drinking coffee. She believes the most important factor in writing a good paper is choosing a thesis that interests you, and spending lots of time writing and revising. A great paper isn't going to be easy to write!

 

Sean Fischer is a sophomore English Literature and Mathematics double major. When he isn't trying to come up with a way to explain his two majors, Sean spends his time running around Geneseo with his teammates on the cross country and track teams or exploring space with Astronomy Club. Sean is new to the Writing Learning Center and is excited to learn about the tutoring process!

 

Cailin Kowalewski


Adam Lashinsky is a senior English Literature major who swears by minimalist footwear. When he’s not out preaching about the miraculous anatomy of the human foot (which is among the only non-literary topics he has academic interest in), he’s most likely walking through the woods, or looking at pictures of cats on the internet. He also swears by the utility of the dash—it’s his favorite punctuation mark.


Yael Massen is a senior double major in Psychology and Creative Writing. During the Fall Semester, Yael is studying abroad at the University of Haifa in Israel. When she finishes taking unexpected four hour hikes to the beach and turning as tan as a date, Yael will return to Geneseo in the Spring for her final semester of college and her beloved Writing Learning Center.


Christina Mortellaro is a sophomore English (Creative Writing) major with headband, revision, and nail polish obsessions. When not writing or editing, Christina enjoys cooking up new concoctions for dinner, watching Mad Men and Modern Family, and napping. Her talent crushes in various mediums of art include Antoni Gaudí, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Sylvia Plath, and John Green. 

 

Christine O’Neill is a junior majoring in English (Creative Writing) and French. She collects Shakespeare plays in different languages, volunteers at Wadsworth library, and her proudest moment was playing Mary in the Main Street Christmas Pageant last year. When it comes to writing, she espouses van Gogh’s theory: “If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.”

 

Liz Reck is a junior English Literature major with minors in History and Geography. She enjoys Yankees baseball, card games, and autumn and has a passion for music, politics, and organization. The eureka moment of the overhead light bulb flashing is the fuel for her writing flame, and she aims to help others achieve that feeling in all stages of their writing."


Ava Russell is a junior English Literature major with a minor in Studio Art. When not writing papers in Milne Library or crafting pieces in the jewelry studio, you might find her cozying up with a good book and a cup of chai tea at Muddy Waters Coffee House. In writing, she stresses the importance of a strong introduction and clear, concise language.

 

Jim Ryan is happily spending his junior year as an English/Creative Writing major.  When he isn’t writing, he can be found playing his guitars or card games.  He stands by the idea that in order for anyone to believe what you are writing about, you’ll need to first believe in it yourself.