APA style and citations for dummies - Joe Giampalmi 2021

Utilize the professor’s office hours
Ten tips for high-scoring research papers
The parts of ten

Writing resources abound, and they’re all within your budget, free. Your best resources are the ones you can interact with and ask questions of. Your best resource to improve your writing is the one right in front of you every day in your class: your professor. Professors’ office hours are the most under-utilized resources on campus. You receive one-on-one instruction on any writing concern, and you can ask questions. You have the added benefit of showing your professor your commitment to improving your writing. You also receive improvement recommendations from the person awarding the grades. It’s almost like professors grading themselves.

Keep these tips in mind:

· Prepare for the conference with your professor by emailing two weeks in advance and asking for a meeting to review your writing project. Ask for a time at the beginning of office hours, because this will allow you more time.

· Prepare two or three questions to begin your conference, such as, “Could you look at how I develop my argument?” and “Could you look at my source engagement?” Don’t ask questions about APA because you can get those questions answered at the writing center.

· Immediately after leaving your professor’s office, find a quiet location and make notations of what your professor said and suggestions they made. That time is the golden 30 minutes when information is fresh in your working memory.

· Send a thank you and reference a specific improvement you learned from the conference.