Brady's Roadhouse

The Waynesburg University Writing Center is hosting a virtual APA Style workshop Thursday, March 4. The event will be run by Waynesburg University student Sophie Kipe. The Writing Center is open, but due to COVID is now virtual.

“Stephanie Wielkopolan and I have been having some meetings about how to create outreach to the students,” said writing center director Jill Moyer Sunday in a Zoom interview. “So, this is the idea I came up with and then Stephanie helped me develop.”

The writing center offers one on one help during its hours. Usually, students could walk to the top floor of the library, sit down and get the help they needed. Now students have to log on to their computer for assistance.

“We pivoted totally online last March when everything closed down,” said Sunday. “Students have two options for appointments. One is face to face via the computer, the second type of appointment is called IE tutoring. You submit your paper and upload it to your appointment and then the tutor gets back to you with comments.”

Students who want to sign up can go to www.waynesburg.mywconline.com, make an account and pick a time slot that works best. There are many intricacies and small differences between styles. Small mistakes could make the difference between letter grades. Peer review is another writing technique that the writing center is there for.

The writing center was another victim of the COVID-19 pandemic. Even without face-to-face communication, it’s still trying to help students. Sophie Kipe, the leader of this event, was optimistic in her responses. 

“The main reason we’re having this event is to help students,” said Kipe via an email interview. “We want students to succeed and part of succeeding in college is writing good papers. We know that APA isn’t as widely taught as MLA in most high schools, so this workshop is set up to give students an extra resource they can use to be successful. Our main goal in the writing center as a whole isn’t to make better papers, it’s to make better writers. This workshop has the same goal.” 

“I want them to understand that APA isn’t as difficult as they thought it might be,” Sunday said.  “There’s a resource out there beyond that Microsoft Teams workshop that they can reach out to the writing center if they need more help because we’re there for that purpose.”