Spring 2010 Hours
M, T, Th: 8:30am-5:00pm
W: 8:30am-4:30 pm
F: 8:30am-2:30pm
Library Hours Now Available:
M & Th: 8:00-10:00pm
Saturday and Sunday: Closed
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Writing Center!
Mission Statement
The Truman State University Writing Center provides all writers on the Truman State University campus with a comfortable environment for conversations about writing. Writing Consultants can work with writers at all levels of competence, from all disciplines, at any stage of the writing process – generating ideas, drafting, revising, and editing – or share ideas about writing strategies and techniques.
For more information about the Center and its services, visit The Writing Center on the third floor of McClain Hall 303, call 785-4484, email write@truman.edu, or contact the Director of the Writing Center, Dave Leaton, at 785-4691 or dleaton@truman.edu.
The Association of American Colleges and Universities recently asked employers who hire at least 25 percent of their workforce from two- or four-year colleges what they want institutions to teach. The answers did not suggest a narrow focus. Instead, 89 percent said they wanted more emphasis on “the ability to effectively communicate orally and in writing,” 81 percent asked for better “critical thinking and analytical reasoning skills” and 70 percent were looking for “the ability to innovate and be creative.”
--Kate Zernike, in her article "Making College Relevant," written for the NY Times, December 29, 2009 (Online).
impact
The base definitions of 'impact' are 'a physical collision' (noun) and 'to physically strike' (verb). Rhetoricians, however, in an effort to give more force to their writing and speaking, have over the last fifty years or so begun to use 'impact' to describe the influence of one idea/activity upon another. For example, "a salary cap will have an impact on the ability of some teams to recruit star players." Such non-physical uses of 'impact' may now be dominant.
"[The proton torpedoes] didn't go in; they just impacted on the surface." -- Star Wars
"The impact of a large asteroid would devastate life on earth."
"The impact of the budget crisis on student financing will be significant."
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Did your high school teachers warn you about using "I" in your writing? If so, it was probably because occurrences of "I" in the academic writing of high school and undergraduate students are often followed by "think," "feel," or "believe." If you find yourself using "I think," "I feel," and/or "I believe" quite often in your writing, that's ok. Just chop them off, and you'll be left with a stronger sentence. For example:
(weak) I feel the cause of war is the sexual frustration of the male population.
(stronger) The cause of war is the sexual frustration of the male population.
The weak sentence reads as "I believe this, but you don't have to." Sometimes that's a good strategy, but most of the time it's a strategy that makes you, the writer, seem wishy-washy or uncommitted to your ideas. If you are uncommitted to your ideas, then I, as a reader, will definitely be sketchy about your ideas.
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