Support for Your Students and Courses

Class Visits

We offer two (2) types of class visits for faculty and staff teaching courses or leading semester-long groups here at Kenyon. To request a class visit, use this google form. 

  1. Approximately 15 minutes to introduce students to the Writing Center and how we can help them. We try to connect to an upcoming assignment if you have one due soon.
  2. Approximately 30-60 minutes to introduce a more in-depth writing concept. Examples from last semester include use of evidence and analysis of that evidence, attributing work through paraphrasing, summary, and direct quotations, and creating a clear introduction with a powerful thesis statement.

Writing Videos and Handouts

We offer a variety of accessible (closed-captioned) videos on our YouTube channel and we upload new content regularly. We also offer many accessible writing handouts on our homepage (scroll to the bottom), adding new handouts each semester. Please feel free to use these materials as you see fit. Questions about them or suggestions for new handouts can be directed to Anna at scanlon1@kenyon.edu. 

Liaison Program

Do you feel like you have a longer written assignment that you wish your students could get the same tutor’s perspective on (perhaps even a tutor you once taught the same assignment to)? Do you think your students could benefit from more course-specific support in your class? Our liaison program is a great way to make that connection by having one writing tutor assigned to your course for the entire semester! They'll meet with your students, offer insight based on context and writing, and you can add them to your course website or Moodle to embed them in your lessons. To request a liaison, please use this Google form. Full consideration will be given to those individuals who request a Fall 2024 liaison before 5 p.m. on Thursday, August 1, 2024.

Required or Incentivized Appointments

We support your offering extra incentives (like partial credit returned for a missed peer review) if a student comes to the writing center. If you do require or incentivize, we just ask that when the students sign up, they fill out a form with their tutor to confirm that they attended the appointment. That fact is specified to the student when they sign up as well.

Academic Skills

Students who use this program are typically eager for advice on everything from time management, to note taking, to studying. Tutors undergo additional training to assist in these areas. Staff and faculty can refer students for this program at any point in the semester using this Google form. Students can also nominate themselves for this program using the same form.

Kenyon Writes

For students who would like more structure and accountability with their writing assignments, we offer Kenyon Writes — a weekly or biweekly program in which they meet with the same tutor for check ins on their work. We encourage this program particularly for first years and for those students who are working on longer pieces (like Comps or senior honors projects). Staff and faculty can refer students for this program at any point in the semester using this Google form. Students can also nominate themselves for this program using the same form. 

Conversation Partners

Students for whom English is not their first or home language and would like practice speaking in a low stakes, non judgmental environment, can enroll in our Conversation Partners program to talk with a tutor, to ask questions, and to share lived experiences if they so choose. They can sign up using this Google form which covers a variety of specifics regarding how tutors can assist non-native speakers. Staff and faculty can also recommend students for this program.

Support for Faculty and Staff

Commenting on Prompts (COP) Program

This program is designed to give you student feedback on assignments, syllabi and other resources you pass out in class before you hand them out so you can make edits for clarity.

  • How it works: You submit a draft as a Google doc linked in this form, we then have two tutors read it over during their shifts, offering their feedback and advice, and then the writing center director will also read it over, including her feedback and advice as well. You then get the assignment back as a new Google doc in which you can accept, reject or ask questions about our recommendations. 

Reading Your Drafts

Our tutors are trained to read anyone’s drafts, yours included! Feel free to bring them by or meet with a tutor online! To learn more about how to meet with a tutor online or in-person, check out our YouTube video and our Google doc. In academic year 2024, we saw a marked increase in support on staff and faculty writing, doubling from Fall 2022 to Fall 2023 how many faculty and staff writers we met with!

Our tutors are taught to first to look for higher-order concerns (HOCs), which interfere with the overall meaning of a writer's work, before looking for lower-order concerns (LOCs) such as grammar and punctuation. This expectation holds for staff, faculty and student writing.

To sign up for an appointment, visit owl.kenyon.edu and register if you haven't yet made an account. You can meet online or in-person with a tutor.

Nominate Someone to Become a Tutor

Did you have a wonderful student in your course or with whom you worked who really grew as a writer, or overcame writing anxieties, or perhaps is an empathetic listener? Do you have someone you think would make an excellent course liaison? We'd love to have them join our staff! Nominate them using this Google form (students can also self-nominate)! We accept nominations both in the spring and fall semesters. We are currently ONLY accepting nominations for the Spring 2025. All our Fall 2024 spots have been filled.

Questions? Ideas for other areas in which we might help? Email Anna (she/her) at scanlon1@kenyon.edu.