The School of Social Work writing coach is available to all students who would like support and guidance with school-related writing assignments. The goal of a writing coach is to help students become better writers through practice, example, and discussion. The writing coach can help students at any stage of the writing process including:
- Get started: review and understand your assignment instructions; brainstorm a strategy and timeline for completing the assignment;
- Review drafts for: organization, clarity, cohesion, introduce sources, cite sources, sentence structure, grammar, and punctuation;
- Revisit assumptions: rules learned in school that may or not apply now, ensure that your writing is fulfilling the assignment and meeting your professor’s expectations;
- Finalize a draft: reverse outline technique, topic sentences, paragraph structure, subtitles, introduction, conclusion.
While students often wish that a writing coach would simply point out and correct their “errors,” that would be editing and not coaching. The point of coaching is to contribute to a writer’s development, helping students become more proficient writers and editors of their own work. For this reason, students are encouraged to contact the writing coach as soon as they can and well before their assignment is due.
How to contact writing coach Penny Miller:
