The LRC is a place for helping students with their academic needs. Writing consultants and students talk together to identify areas of concern by sharing a variety of strategies and advice about writing situations and challenges during any stage of the writing process (i.e., getting started with a prompt, organizing a draft, documenting sources research, formatting according to a style guide, proofreading for a polished draft, and style). Tutors work together to understand course-specific concepts, work through practice problems, learn study strategies, or any other academic support you need.
No, our staff is here to assist and guide you to generate ideas or understand concepts. Tutors and writing consultants will not assist with homework, exams, or projects which would put them in violation of Gardner-Webb University’s Honor Code.
The tutors and writing consultants are undergraduate students referred to by Gardner-Webb University faculty based on their excellence in specific skills and working well with others. All staff are provided training each year from the Coordinator of the Learning Resource Center, other faculty, and staff from Gardner-Webb.
Our writing and tutoring services are located in Room 346, and our testing services are hosted in room 336. We also have tutoring for nursing classes inside the College of Health Sciences building.
Tutoring appointments are usually an hour long, while writing appointments are a half-hour. If additional time is needed, students are encouraged to book additional appointments up to the weekly limit allowed.
Due to the busy nature of the LRC, we ask that each student only book up to two sessions per week for each kind of service (i.e., two tutoring appointments and two writing appointments). This limit can be raised if extraordinary circumstances require additional time. If a student would like to request this limit be waived, they should email the Coordinator for the Learning Resource Center at [email protected].
We understand how busy life can be, but we do ask students to make every effort possible to attend scheduled appointments. Our staff members work on tight schedules throughout the week; by not utilizing an appointment slot because of a student’s absence, we lose valuable time helping others in need. If you are unable to make an appointment, we ask that you notify [email protected] of your expected absence as quickly as possible.
Additionally, please note that we are sometimes unable to accommodate your scheduled appointment if you arrive late! Sessions with our writing staff are thirty minutes long, and sessions with tutoring staff are one hour. If a student is five minutes late to a writing appointment or fifteen minutes late to a tutoring appointment, we will automatically cancel their appointment and accept any walk-in students needing assistance.
Students can expect staff qualified and trained to guide and support you for any assistance needed. All staff will greet you, ask what you need help with, and assist you using guided questions and strategies; however, tutors and writing staff will not complete your homework for you.
Yes, the staff can help students learn documentation styles and correctly cite their research. We have training in MLA, APA, and Turabian documentation and have a variety of resources in other frequently assigned styles in the center. Please, keep in mind that students will be responsible for indicating which portions of their paper are not their own words/ideas.
The Learning Resource Center is not responsible for any accusations of plagiarism a student may receive on an assignment after visiting the LRC. Writing consultants do their best to point out any forms of plagiarism in writing assignments brought to them; however, they are not responsible for a student’s paper and any neglect of making suggested corrections. It is the student’s responsibility, not the writing consultants, to make sure there is no plagiarism in an assignment.
A dissertation is a complex, theory-dense monograph that is beyond the LRC’s resources in terms of discipline-specific training and time. When students reach that point as a scholar, they are composing texts that are advanced, targeted for specialized audiences of faculty and scholars. For this reason, LRC staff are not equipped to edit or help students revise dissertations.
Contact your program director for recommendations for dissertation editors who have discipline-specific (e.g., Education, Nursing, Business) knowledge of your topic, format, and documentation style.
If you are unable to find a specific course, please contact [email protected].
