Writing Center
Mission Statement

The purpose of both of these Centers is to offer academic support services by providing English instructors to assist students with not only the mechanics of writing, but also with the ability to think critically about a subject, to research a subject, to determine format, and to identify audience through consultations with qualified faculty tutors. Both Centers serve as supplementary resources for improved proficiency in reading, writing, and thinking.

What Tutors Will Do:

  1. Tutors will offer help getting started to those students who simply don’t know where to begin. We will teach students methods of brainstorming (prewriting) to help them generate ideas and determine a focus for their assignment.
  2. Tutors will help students organize their thoughts into logical patterns of development (formal or informal outlining). Some students find this the most difficult phase of the writing process.
  3. Tutors will discuss organizational strategies with students, helping them generate the most effective order for presentation of their ideas.
  4. Tutors will help students identify their most common errors in grammar and mechanics, teaching them how to find and correct those errors independently.
What Tutors Will Not Do:
  1. Tutors will not edit or proofread student papers; tutors will teach students the strategies to edit their own papers.
  2. Tutors will not discuss a paper written by another student.
  3. Tutors will not “grade” a student paper; they cannot tell a student what grade they think a paper will receive.
  4. Tutors will not accept papers that a student wants to drop off for assessment and pick up later.

Locations:

Central Campus Writing Center: Interactive Learning Center, Room T134 San Jacinto College Central, 8060 Spencer Hwy., Pasadena

South Campus Writer's Center: Room 2214 ADM Building, San Jacinto College South, 13735 Beamer Road, Houston

Hours and Appointments

  • Central Writing Center: Check for posted hours or call during the first week of classes.

Students may walk in for tutoring and to use the computers for writing and for research; the computers access the San Jacinto Web Site, including Blackboard, Library TexShare databases and the Internet. Printing of these resources requires a print card, which is sold in the Open Lab.

Students may make a specific appointment with a tutor by calling: 281.478.2788.

Please visit our Blackboard site by logging in to Blackboard, and then clicking on the SAN JAC LIFE tab, then STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS, then PROFESSIONAL/DEPARTMENTAL, and scroll down until you see PDCENTRAL WRITING CENTER. Click on ENROLL and SUBMIT and begin exploring the resources available to you there!

  • South Writer's Center: Fall and Spring Term hours are as follows:
    • Monday through Thursday: 7:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
      Tutoring is available from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
      Effective April 7 tutoring is available from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
    • Friday: 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
      Tutoring is available from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
    • Saturday: 8:00 a.m. to 12:45 p.m.
      Tutoring is available from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

Summer Sessions: Check for posted hours or call during the first week of Summer classes.

Students may walk in for tutoring and to use the computers for writing and for research; the computers access the Library TexShare databases and the Internet. Printing of these resources is limited; check with tutors or student assistants before printing.

Students may make a specific appointment with a tutor by calling: 281.484.1900, ext. 3340.

Please visit our Blackboard site by creating a free account in Blackboard, using your g00# as your user name and selecting a password of your choice. If you already have a Blackboard account you just log onto Blackboard. (IMPORTANT: All Blackboard (Bb) accounts MUST have your g00# as your user name! If you previously had a Bb account but used your own user name or used your g00# with an a or b added to it, your account(s) will have been purged from the system; you will need to create a new account with that g00# as your user name. Then go to COURSES, SOUTH, ENGLISH, and scroll down the list until you reach The Writer’s Center. (It will show two instructor names: Dr. Jo Lyday and Ms. Peggy Oliver.) Click on ENROLL and SUBMIT and begin exploring the resources available to you there!