/ Klooster Center for Excellence in Writing

Writing Center FAQ: Resources and Links

This is an alphabetically arranged list of resources and links for Klooster Center Writing Assistants, Writing Fellows and Leadership Team members.

Consult this list when you have a question about Writing Center business … from tips on conducting a peer-review session to questions about Hope College payroll and time sheet submissions/deadlines. If you have a suggestion for improving or adding to this page, please contact a Leadership Team member. Your input is always appreciated.

Academic Success Center

Here’s a link to Hope’s Academic Success Center, where you might be referring a student for specific help in a subject area.

APA Style (American Psychological Association)

Here’s a link to Purdue Owl APA.

Appointment Form

Here is the link to schedule an online appointment with the Klooster Center for Excellence in Writing. Sometimes students email the desk directly and do not know where to fill out an online appointment sheet. Direct them here!

Beginning Your Peer-Review Session (online or in-person)

Here’s a link to our KCEW “best practices” document about conducting a tutoring appointment. The document covers things such as … how to introduce yourself, begin the discussion, lay out the session plan you will follow, etc. Faithfully following these “best practices” guidelines is especially important with our online-only version of The Writing Center.

Breaks and Holidays

From the official academic calendar of the Registrar’s Office, here is a list of our current-semester breaks and holidays.

Chicago Style (author Kate L. Turabian)

Here’s a link to a PDF of “A Manual for Writers” by Turabian.

Choosing Your Online Platform for a Session

It’s all about effectiveness and comfort level … for both of you! Ideally, all KCEW staffers will become very familiar with and capable of tutoring in every mode, from sharing a Google Doc to Skyping an appointment, from Meet/Zooming to just talking your way through an appointment by phones while looking at an emailed manuscript. As much as possible, please honor the student’s request for platform and modality, but you never have to share your phone number if you don’t want to. In a nutshell, KCEW online peer-reviewing takes a creative tutoring mindset … and you can do it! For lots of helpful hints, here is a link to Conducting an Online KCEW Appointment.

Desk Duties & Details

Here’s a link to a new (Spring 2021) document about “ALL THINGS DESKING”: Desk Duties & Details. It’s focused on the issues of working the desk in its online form. Another document, which is older, addresses more of the policy issues of The Writing Center. That handy reference is located at: Reception Desk: Detailed Guide.docx

Friday Meetings

Every other Friday, we conduct a required (and paid) one-hour meeting of all KCEW personnel. WA’s, Fellows, Leadership. Choose to attend either the 2 p.m. session or the repeated 3 p.m. session, depending on your schedule. Our Spring 2021 meetings will be held on the following dates:

  • January 29
  • February 12
  • February 26
  • March 12
  • March 26
  • April 9
  • April 23
  • May 7

Everyone please add these dates and times to your personal calendars.

Grammar, Punctuation, Typos and Style

These issues are not your most important function as Writing Center peer reviewers, but they’re certainly worthy of our attention as time allows. For example, if a one-hour appointment starts wrapping up after 45 minutes, please use the remaining time for any level of writing-related help. After higher-order concerns have been addressed, feel free to also talk about style, punctuation and more. Your session should not end early if there are any issues that could still use some attention. Also, here is a link to our Writing Center “best practices” sheet: KCEW “best practices” document

Hours of Operation
  • Monday through Thursday: 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
  • Friday: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
  • Saturday: Closed
  • Sunday: Noon to 10 p.m.
Leadership Team Contact Numbers

Here is a link to the current KCEW Master Contact List (in Google Docs), including a list of current-semester Leadership members

Master Contact List
Spring 2021 Master Contact List 
MLA Style (Modern Language Association)

Here is a link to Purdue Owl MLA.

Multilingual Writing Assistants

Sometimes a Writing Center student/client needs a peer review of a paper that is in a different language. The Leadership Team is working on a list of writing assistants on staff who can handle appointments in another language. An email and related document on this subject will be posted soon.

No-Show Appointment and What To Do About It

No-shows are considered when the student has missed enough of the appointment to force it to be cancelled/rescheduled. Our policy is that this is 7-plus minutes for a half-hour session, and 15-plus minutes for full-hour appointments, but the WA may still take the appointment if the schedule is free at their/the desk’s discretion. No-shows for the semester are tracked with a three-strikes policy, at which point the student will not be able to meet with the Klooster Center for the remainder of the term. All no-shows are tracked in this document, so please update it and let the person at desk know if an appointment is a no-show:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1q0cWjWvQ-GqLXX46iq4OUe6bVbgG3WfAVHBQL6B6Kso/edit?usp=sharing

[leadership note: second strikes should be highlighted yellow, and third strikes highlighted red]

On Arrangement

From Dr. Tom Sura, Hope’s Director of College Writing, here is a spreadsheet detailing typical arrangement styles for different kinds of papers. Feel free to edit and add more kinds of papers for WAs to consider:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15dJUtSbEITYc8mn__VraVPstmhs1iE92MFyNJeUdIns/edit?usp=sharing

Problem Arising Before, During, After a Session

Please do the following if you encounter a problem that gets in the way of properly conducting a session:

  1. Write about the situation in an official Klooster Center Session Report, even if most or all of the session did not take place.
  2. Email or text your assigned Leadership Team “small-group” leader to discuss the problem and possible immediate remedies.
  3. Be prepared for a follow-up discussion about what happened and how a session might still be conducted, either with you or reassigned to a different KCEW staffer.
Referring a Hope Student for KCEW Hiring

We’d love your help with this! If you have a candidate in mind, the best thing to do is ask that student to have a faculty member send a referral email to the KCEW director. That’s always the starting point for being hired as a Writing Assistant, and the next step is for the applicant to write a one-page letter of interest about being hired as a peer reviewer. Please encourage that student to go ahead and write that “letter of interest” and send it to the director and to kloostercenter@hope.edu.

Session Reports

Here is the link to the KCEW Session Report Form.

Small Groups

Here is the link to the KCEW Support Group Assignments.

Sub Requests to Cover for Illness, Other Reasons

A link is coming soon to information about requesting a sub for your work shift(s) and properly documenting the change of personnel for your shift.

Suggestions, Comments, Questions

They’re always welcome! Please contact your assigned “small-group” Leadership Team member, or talk to any of us about your ideas. See “Leadership Team Contact Numbers” above.

Time Sheets

Here is a link to the Hope Payroll forms and guidelines.

Hope CollegeKlooster Center for Excellence in Writing

Van Wylen Library53 Graves PlaceHolland, MI 49423

workP. 616.395.7025