Information for Students

Welcome to the Writing Center

The Writing Center is a free resource available to all SUNY Broome students. Whether you’re just getting started, revising a final draft, or somewhere in between, our professional tutors are here to help you become a stronger, more confident writer.

We work with students from every program and at every level of writing experience. Whether you’re writing for Biology, Criminal Justice, English, History, Mathematics, Psychology, Education, Dental Hygiene, Medical Assisting, or another course, we can help. We also provide assistance with resumes, cover letters, scholarship essays, college applications, and other professional writing.

General Information

Writing Center tutors work collaboratively with you throughout the writing process. Rather than editing your paper for you, we help you develop the skills to become a more effective writer.

  • Understand your assignment
  • Brainstorm and organize ideas
  • Develop a thesis or main argument
  • Improve organization and paragraph structure
  • Integrate and cite sources (MLA, APA, and more)
  • Strengthen clarity and style
  • Develop proofreading and revision strategies
  • Build confidence as a writer

A tutoring session is a conversation about your writing. Your tutor will ask questions, discuss your goals, and help you identify strategies to improve your work.

To get the most from your appointment, please bring:

  • Your assignment instructions or syllabus
  • Any grading rubric or instructor feedback
  • Your draft or notes (at any stage)
  • Your textbook or other relevant materials
  • Questions or concerns you’d like to discuss

  • In person
  • Online via video
  • By email feedback

Visit the Writing Center in Library Room L-012
Call 607-778-5632
Email WritingCenter@sunybroome.edu

We recommend scheduling appointments early so you have time to revise before your assignment is due. Current hours are available on the Writing Center homepage.

Frequently Asked Questions

The Writing Center is a free resource for all SUNY Broome students. Faculty and other members of the SUNY Broome community are also welcome to use our services.

Our tutors can help at any stage of the writing process, whether you’re just getting started or polishing a final draft. We can assist with:

  • Understanding assignments
  • Brainstorming ideas
  • Developing a thesis
  • Organizing your paper
  • Improving clarity, flow, and transitions
  • Academic writing style
  • Citation formats (MLA, APA, and more)
  • Revision and proofreading strategies

We work with writing assignments from all academic disciplines, not just English courses. We also assist with resumes, cover letters, scholarship essays, application essays, and other professional writing.

Absolutely! You don’t need a completed draft to visit the Writing Center. We can help you understand your assignment, brainstorm ideas, develop an outline, and create a plan before you begin writing.

No. Our tutors do not edit, rewrite, or proofread papers for students.

Instead, they work with you to identify patterns in your writing, improve organization and clarity, strengthen sentence-level writing, and develop the editing and proofreading skills you’ll use throughout your academic career.

Appointments are recommended to ensure tutor availability. You can schedule an appointment by:

Calling 607-778-5632
Emailing WritingCenter@sunybroome.edu
Stopping by the Writing Center during business hours

The Writing Center is located in Library Room L-012.

We offer several ways to receive writing support:

  • In-person tutoring
  • Video appointments
  • Email feedback

Whenever possible, we recommend meeting with a tutor in person or by video, as these options provide the most interactive and effective support.

To request a video appointment, contact the Writing Center by phone, email, or in person. If emailing, let us know your preferred day and time, along with the course you’re working on (if applicable).

Before your appointment begins, your tutor will email you a link to join the session.

If you cannot meet in person or by video, you may request written feedback by email. Because email tutoring is less interactive, we recommend live appointments whenever possible.

To receive the most helpful feedback, include:

  • Your name and B#
  • Course and section number (or indicate if it’s a resume, cover letter, application essay, etc.)
  • Your instructor’s name (if applicable)
  • Assignment due date
  • Assignment instructions or grading rubric
  • Specific questions or areas you’d like your tutor to focus on

Please attach your paper as a .doc, .docx, or .rtf file and send your request from your SUNY Broome email account.

Please do not send Google Docs sharing links. Instead, download your document as a Microsoft Word file and attach it to your email. PDF files should only be used if another format is unavailable.

Yes! In addition to our own online appointments, SUNY Broome students have access to:

STAR-NY Online Tutoring, offering English writing support Sunday through Thursday from 7 p.m. – 11:30 p.m.

ThinkingStorm Online Tutoring, which provides additional online tutoring support outside of Writing Center hours.

These services are excellent options if you need help when the Writing Center is closed.

Writing Links

Purdue University’s OWL

Research Links

We do not recommend using 3rd party citation generators because they often produce inaccurate results. Students are much better off learning the basics of how to cite without relying on a “black box” to generate the citation for them. (If you don’t have a basic understanding of citation, you’ll be much less able to tell if the output from such a tool is wrong.) That said, the citation assistance tools built into academic research databases, such as what you will find in EBSCOhost through our library, tend to be more reliable than 3rd party citation generators, but we can’t link to those.