Online Writing Help
We offer online writing help, which gives you the opportunity to e-mail us (the PJC Writing Lab tutors) for assistance at the following address: writinglab@pjc.edu. You may send us a grammar question, a question about your paper, or a draft of your paper for us to review. If you attach a draft of your paper to your e-mail message, please make sure that your paper is saved as either a Microsoft Word document or an ".rtf" file. If you submit a question or a paper, you can expect an answer within 24 hours. If you e-mail something over the weekend or during holidays, it will take a little longer. The Online Writing Lab hours are the same as the Pensacola campus Writing Lab. Click here for hours of operation.
Policies and Resources
Before you submit a grammar question or a draft of a paper, make sure that you have read the following policies and that you understand them. Also, please check the other resources we have available on our Web site such as Frequently Asked Questions and How to Proof Your Paper Accurately. If you have a question regarding documentation methods, Guides for Documenting Sources (MLA, APA, Turabian, Chicago, and other citation guides) might help you.
We will be glad to work with students online, but we will not proofread or edit a paper, which is our policy for walk-in students as well. We believe that any good writing program encourages independence in its students so that they will eventually have enough confidence in their own abilities to work with minimal guidance. We want to help students to improve their overall writing skills, and this process involves more than just fixing errors in one particular piece of work.
We will be happy to answer questions about the focus, organization, and development of your paper. We will also answer general questions about documentation. If you have any specific questions about mechanics or grammar, we will also be happy to help you out.
In your e-mail message, please provide a brief description of your assignment and tell the writing tutor something about you and your specific concerns. Which areas do you think need the most work right now?
The following questions might help you:
1. Does your paper have a focus? Stay with your main idea; don't go "off topic."
2. Have you included a thesis statement? Your thesis statement must be in the form of a statement (not a question) and should have two parts: your topic and your opinion about (or attitude toward) your topic.
3. Is your paper organized well? Do you think you could arrange your paragraphs or the ideas within your paragraphs more effectively? Do you have an introduction and a conclusion?
4. Have you provided enough supporting details for your topic? Are there any places in your paper where you think you could develop your point by elaborating more?
5. Do you have any specific grammar mistakes that you tend to make often? Are there any sentences in your paper that don't sound correct? Check for fragments, run-ons, comma splices, subject-verb agreement, and pronoun use.
IMPORTANT! If you are sending an e-mail with your paper attached,
please make sure that your paper is saved as
either a Microsoft Word document or an ".rtf" (Rich Text Format) file.
To send a question or a draft of your paper to the Online Writing Lab,
use the following e-mail address: writinglab@pjc.edu.
Or, if you are already logged into your PJC PirateMail account, click here.