With an essay or two written, students are finding difficulty in their writing and are looking for help.The Tyler Junior College writing lab is a free service on campus whose goal is to assist students in receiving a quality education by providing a supervised tutoring environment. Dr. Noamie Byrum and Candace Shafer started this free service in 1996. This on-campus service is open to any TJC student needing help improving their writing.”There is no requirement for a student to get help,” Kristen Jackson, coordinator for the Writing Lab said.Students are advised to make an appointment with a tutor to guarantee at least 30 minutes of one-on-one help, and to show up prepared with their assignment. Students are only allowed to make one appointment per day with a tutor. Anyone needing help should allow themselves time to work on their paper before turning it in. The lab has two senior professional tutors and five student tutors. The tutors are well trained to help anyone in need of improving writing skills. Tutors assist students at all stages of the writing process from brainstorming and paragraph development, to grammar and documenting sources.”Writing can be a very isolated process. Therefore, the writing lab is open to help students,” Jackson said.Not only does the lab offer tutoring for writing assignments, they also have an open computer lab which can be used to check e-mail, write papers or do any school work. The lab prefers students not to print more than ten pages, but exceptions can be made.Jamal Russell, a TJC student, said he uses the lab to complete his homework.Jackson said the lab sees about 300 students per week using the computers and about 30 to 50 students per week with a tutor.”The writing lab has helped me become a better writer,” Brittney Henry, a nursing student at TJC, said. The staff in the writing lab wants students to become more professional writers and to not be timid about asking for help.Jackson said the lab staff respects students as writers, which makes students feel more comfortable and confident in asking for assistance with a writing assignment.The writing lab is located in Jenkins Hall, Room 1108 and is opened Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m.-6 p.m. and Friday from 9 a.m.-3 p.m.
