Whether you’re getting ready to write your first college paper, have a speech that you’re nervous about, want someone to help you brainstorm for a project, or are having trouble studying for a class, Azusa Pacific University’s Writing, Speaking, and Tutoring Center is ready to help you. Located in Marshburn Library on East Campus, the center has professional and student coaches ready to support graduate and undergraduate students on their academic journeys.
The center operates on the motto: any project, any student, at any stage. This means that no matter what kind of assignment you need help with from any course, coaches are willing to help you with whatever you need at any point from start to finish. One of the most popularly utilized services at the center are sessions with writing coaches. “Our writing coaches come from a diverse range of subjects to help a variety of students,” said Nilo Tayag, MA ’24, program manager. “Students can get help at any point of the writing process. You don’t even need to have anything down on paper yet. We can help you brainstorm, write rough drafts, or be there to help with revisions.” Student workers are happy to help their peers with any kind of project. “I like that I get to help people with different kinds of assignments from nursing papers, creative writing projects, and resumés to slides, screenplays, and citation guides,” said writing and speaking coach Lauren Pate ’27, an English and honors humanities double major with a creative writing minor. Graduate students often schedule recurring appointments with the Writing, Speaking, and Tutoring Center for help with their thesis or capstone project.
Speaking coaches are also available to help students prepare and practice speeches. A great resource for freshmen Honors College students in particular, coaches can help students write their speeches and practice their public speaking skills in a comfortable environment with encouraging, constructive feedback. “I visited the center as a freshman for my speeches,” Pate said. “The coach I met with was in Honors too, so she knew what the professor was looking for and let me recite my speech multiple times. Afterwards, they sent me an email with everything we went through and some advice for the day of my speech.”
Primarily for STEM students taking classes that require memorization for exams, the center also employs student tutors. Students benefit from working with tutors who have already taken the specific course they need help with and earned a B+ or higher in the course. “Our tutors know the challenges of the course and how to succeed,” Tayag said. “In tutoring sessions, students will go over content for exams, study skills, and test preparation.” Some tutoring appointments are also available in Segerstrom Science Center for the convenience of STEM students who aren’t able to make it to the center’s primary location on East Campus.
The center is always looking to improve the student experience and loves to hear student success stories. “The center is a powerful force on campus helping students to know that they are not alone on their academic journey,” Tayag said. “We get a lot of anecdotal feedback from students who tell us they feel like they are stronger writers, have improved their grade, or have just been given a boost of confidence.” Some students are hesitant to visit the Writing, Speaking, and Tutoring Center because they don’t have past experience writing college level papers, but coaches are there to support students on their academic journey, not pick apart their work. “People come in saying that they’re bad writers because they’ve never learned certain writing styles before, but that’s not an issue,” Pate said. “We meet students where they’re at in the process and provide resources so that when they need to write another paper, they have confidence in their abilities. Students should know that they can always come back to get more help if they need it.”
If you are interested in making an appointment with the Writing, Speaking, and Tutoring Center, you can call (626) 815-8120, email [email protected] to meet with a writing coach, or email [email protected] to meet with a tutor. The center also holds writing drop-in hours from 3 - 5 p.m. on Monday-Thursday on East Campus. They also offer STEM drop-ins on West Campus at various times on Monday-Friday. An in-depth schedule of STEM drop-in hours can be found here. During these times, any student can come in to work with a coach without scheduling an appointment. Appointments and drop-ins can last up to one hour or be as short as 10 minutes.