Independent Study in the Writing Lab
Independent study allows you to work one-on-one with a tutor to develop writing skills and improve writing performance over several weeks of intensive, customized study. Independent Study will return to the Writing Lab when the requirement for social distancing has been lifted. Until then, please use our Face-to-Face Online Interactive Paper Reading service through Google Meet or our Online Writing Lab (OWL) in Canvas. Appointments are available through Navigate.
You design your own weekly course of study of grammar and writing skills. We help you achieve your learning goals.
For returning students and other students who are having difficulty meeting the writing expectations of a course and/or producing collegiate papers, the Writing Lab offers weekly independent study sessions that are held in the Writing Lab. Independent study sessions are scheduled based on the availability of a graduate or undergraduate Writing Lab assistant to work with the independent study student once a week during the duration of the requested semester.
When you request an independent study, the Writing Lab Director will assign you a tutor who will be taken off the regular paper reading and tutoring schedules to work exclusively with you on your developmental writing skills—the skills you, or you and your professor, think will be most beneficial to you as a developing writer. It is important that you be present and on time for each scheduled session.
How do I request an independent study?
E-mail Mamie Hixon, the Writing Lab Director, at mhixon@uwf.edu. The two of you will meet to determine whether independent study is right for you.
What are my responsibilities as an independent study student?
Independent studies are designed to help you improve your performance in writing. Success depends upon your willingness to put forth a concerted effort to attend all sessions and to learn from each session.
Please arrive on time, and come prepared with current writing assignments, research, rough drafts, and other materials to work with during your sessions. If you bring articles or literary texts for brainstorming, be sure to read them beforehand.
If you find it necessary to be absent or late for an appointment, it is important that you notify your assigned tutor at the Main Writing Lab. Independent study sessions follow the Writing Lab's no-show and cancellation policies. You will be considered a no-show if you fail to cancel a session within 24 hours of your meeting time or if you arrive more than 5 minutes late for your appointment. In either case, your session may be given to a walk-in. Two no-shows will result in the Writing Lab's discontinuing your independent study sessions