As a rule of thumb, we ask that you limit online submissions to about 2000 words. If your draft is lengthy and complex, you should come to the Writing Lab for a face-to-face conference. Longer papers can be handled online, but turn around time will be longer, and some issues may still require face-to-face assistance.

Graduate Students: In most instances, for assistance with a major paper (e.g., a master's thesis), please call us at 573-651-2460 and set up an appointment for a face-to-face conference.

Our submission process has changed. We are now through Moodle!

The Online Writing Lab is now on Moodle! If you are not already enrolled, the process is simple.

1. From learning.semo.edu: Under “All Courses” choose “Center for Writing Excellence.” Then under “Online Writing Lab,” click “enroll me.” Once enrolled, you will see the Online Writing Lab listed "OWL.201420" under "My Courses" on your Moodle page.

How to Access Feedback

1. Log in to OWL in Moodle and click on “Online Paper Submission.”
2. Scroll down until you see “Previous attempt.”
3. Click on the appropriate attempt.
4. Scroll down and open the commented draft in Feedback files.

Please contact us at (573) 651-2460 if you have any questions.

Important!

Since the submission process no longer offers a place to put comments to the tutor telling him or her what questions and concerns you have about your draft, please put them directly on the paper itself. Our tutors need those comments in order to properly assess the paper. The checklist below may help you determine what you could write to the tutor.

• Please explain the assignment in detail. Assignments may be similar in courses, but each teacher has different expectations. If we don't know what the assignment is, we cannot comment correctly.
• Is the main idea (thesis) or purpose clear?
• Does anything need further explanation or description? Or is there something that doesn't seem relevant and should be omitted? If you are arguing a point, have you made a convincing case? Does the paper achieve the purpose you have in mind?
• Is the paper effectively organized? Are the supporting ideas or sections or stages clearly separate? Are they in the most effective order? Would the paper be easy to outline?
• Is there a sentence or passage that might confuse the reader?
• Is there a technical matter (in punctuation, grammar, word choice, documentation style, or something else) you are unsure about?

Tutors will respond to your submission within 72 business hours, as a rule. Mid-term and end-of-the-semester are busy times and we may not be able to respond to your submission as quickly. Otherwise, we usually are able to respond the same day we receive your submission.

Submit Your Draft Online

The Writing Lab's hours are Monday – Thursday 9:00 AM – 9:00 PM, Friday 9 AM – 2 PM, and Sunday 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM. If you send us a paper on Friday afternoon, we may not be able to retrieve it until Monday morning, and you may not hear from us until Tuesday, depending on how busy we are.

The Center for Writing Excellence offers online reviews of essays. These are great for students who can’t actually come to the Writing Lab, but sometimes students accustomed to personal tutoring don’t know how to interpret the feedback given in these sessions.
Tutors look at two types of concerns:

• Higher-Order Concerns – These are higher priority items that affect the paper as a whole.
• Topic – Is the topic narrowed properly? Does the thesis statement cover the topic as a whole?
• Tone – Does the point of view match the type of paper? Is the tone consistent throughout? Are there sections that seem out of place?
• Organization – Is the paper set up in an easily understandable way? Does it go through ideas in a logical order and explain everything that is necessary?
• Lower-Order Concerns – These are things that we fix after the paper is almost finished. They are easy to correct, but they can only be done after the higher-order concerns have been revised.
• Grammar and Punctuation – Is the paper mechanically correct? Are there misplaced words or phrases that harm the meaning of individual ideas?
• Formatting – Does the paper match the style the instructor requires? Are the citations in the text and in the end properly formatted?

In an online tutoring session, you tutor will comment on higher-order concerns for your paper that focus on the general content and layout of your paper and then move to the lesser concerns, such as grammar and formatting. They will point out both as they move throughout your paper, but you should look for the more general problems first and then move to smaller things like grammar and word choice.