Hello, all!
We are excited to announce that the Hartford campus will be using an online scheduler for the Writing Center. You can see it by going to https://hartford.mywconline.com and registering for an account with us–make sure you use your @uconn.edu email address!
There will be a guide for using the scheduler up soon, so keep your eyes peeled.
The Greater Hartford Campus Writing Center is proud to announce that the Winner of the 2014 Writing Contest is Sierra Rice! Her essay, titled “Nation of the Controlled,” can be found here as well as on our contest webpage. We were able to schedule an interview with Sierra, which appears below.
When you wrote your paper, what attracted you to the topic of control?
I really didn’t come up with the topic of control on my own, it was the foundation of what my paper was supposed to be about, but I did chose to specifically focus on control within the educational institution as a means of suppression and I used Michele Foucault’s Panopticism, and Laura Kipnis’s Loves Labors to kind of back up this idea that I had about the educational system.
Can you tell us a little about your writing strategies? How did you go about writing this paper?
Well, for my writing strategies what I first tried to do was come up with a list of different forms of control that I could possibly talk about, and that list included a wide variety of things, so from that list I ultimately chose to stick with education because I believed that it was the strongest point I could get across because it is something that I’m passionate about; I do like education and I like learning and I thought that it was really interesting to kind of look beyond what we see as the educational system and kind of see it as this form of control.
How important were multiple drafts to your process? Were there any components that changed or were dropped across the writing of the essay?
Multiple drafts were extremely important because I first started out talking about three different forms of control, I think the two that I can remember off the top of my head are education, and I think the other one had to do with hospitals and the way the medical world is kind of set up in the system of control, but as I did a couple of drafts I later dropped the other two ideas I was talking about and focused on one aspect of control which in my case was education. That definitely made my essay stronger because readers were able to understand the idea I wanted to get across by just referencing this one organization that is controlling.
Has the work done with this paper impacted your perception of the world around you?
The work that I’ve done with this project definitely makes me more curious to know about this hidden form of control that we experience daily, but for the most part I think it was just a learning experience and I’m definitely appreciative of it because it made my writing skills much stronger, and it makes me curious to continue research about this social theory of panopticism that was introduced to me by Michel Foucault, one of the writers that I did use as a source in my essay, and I’m definitely curious to hear other peoples ideas about it as well.
Tell us a little about how you’ve grown as a writer over your time here at UConn.
Well I grew as a writer here at UCONN by taking English 1010 with Prof. Gagnon; he is definitely adamant about building strong writers and I’m very appreciative for his influence. I think that I came to UCONN with the idea that I was already a good writer and then Prof. Gagnon talked to us about things like writing techniques and encouraged independent thinking and I saw that I had a lot of improvement to do so I definitely used the information he gave us to develop stronger writing skills that I believe are going to stick with me for a really long time.
What are your plans for the future? Do they involve writing, and if so, how?
Um, my plans for the future…I’m just trying to take it one day at a time, I’m not fixated on one main goal because I have a lot that are equally important. Some of these goals do involve writing, even if its just writing recreationally; writing is always going to be a big part of my life because its something I love to do, it relaxes me, and I’m never going to get rid of it so luckily if I do find myself in a job where I get to do a lot of writing I’ll be happy about that, but if not, you know, I don’t have a problem with it being a weekend thing.
Many thanks to Sierra for her thoughts.
Next November we’ll begin looking for new submissions to our 2015 Essay Contest, so make sure you keep your work this Spring–you could be the next winner!
The Writing Center is open for the Spring Semester of 2015! We’re glad to welcome all writers back to the campus and look forward to helping you with any of your writing this semester.
If you would like to make an appointment, you can stop by our room, 303 Undergraduate Building, and sign up on the signs outside, or email us at hartfordwriting@gmail.com.
We’re happy to help you with your work at any stage of the process–from brainstorming ideas to polishing nearly finished work, and you can come see us on an as-needed basis or set up a standing weekly appointment with one of our consultants.
Looking forward to seeing you soon!
We here at the Writing Center hope all of the students, staff, and faculty here at the Hartford Campus have a wonderful holiday season.
The Writing Center is now closed until January, and we hope that you will come visit us next semester.
Don’t forget to send in your essays for our essay contest and, if you are inclined, send us an application to work here next semester.
The Writing Center is looking for some writing-focused individuals to join our ranks in the Spring Semester!
We encourage anyone to apply for a position, which will include paid training and weekly work. You must be a student here at UConn to apply, and we prefer to hire writers from the local Hartford campus when possible.
You can see the full details for the application process on the attached flyer–send in your application soon!
Hello, all you writers out there!
We know that the semester is filling up with a lot of work at this point, and we’re hopeful that you remember us as you continue to work on your papers–there are still a few times each day for you to drop in and see us about your current plans and efforts.
And alongside submitting your papers to class for grades, you can also submit your work to our Writing Contest!
The Writing Center has sponsored the Hartford Campus Writing Contest for a number of years, and we are glad to continue the tradition. All you have to do is send us a copy of your paper and fill out a short entry form.
You’re already writing, so you might as well get the chance to get more than just a grade out of it, right?
The contest is open to submissions of a wide variety–so long as it was written for a class here on the Hartford Campus in the last year, you can submit it to us! We are looking for essays between 5 and 12 pages in length, and we want fresh copies–no teacher comments.
The submissions are due at the end of finals week–December 12th–so make sure you get yours in early!
As the semester moves ever forward, more and more Writing Center spots are filled by drop-in writers and reservations. Make sure you don’t miss the chance to speak to a consultant by planning your next Writing Center visit ahead of time!
You can stop by our office at 303 to reserve a time or email us with a time preference and we will do our best to add you to the schedule.
Hello and welcome to the new semester at UCONN Hartford! We’re glad to have you back and we hope that you come to visit us when you have writing to work on.
The Writing Center is here to help you with any of your writing needs, and we look forward to assisting you in becoming the best writer you can be. Drop in and say hello to our consultants, have a seat on our couches, and discuss your writing.
See you soon!