The Academic Projects Center, a new venture offering
one-to-one writing, research, and technology assistance for all EMU students,
will open for the Fall Term 2008 on Monday, September 8. The APC is a
collaboration between the University Library, Academic Technology and
Computing Services, the University Writing Center, and the Writing Across
the Curriculum and First Year Writing Programs.
The Academic Projects Center was launched last January, and since then,
the Center has been a popular destination for students. During
the Winter Term, 2008 there were 849 requests for assistance. 67%
of the requests were related to writing, 21% to research, and 6% to technology. As
awareness of the availability of help through the Center increases on
campus, it is expected that the number requests from the three areas
will become more balanced.
The Academic Projects Center offers point-of-need help with research,
writing, and technology to students working on research papers and other
academic projects. University Writing Center consultants, Halle Librarians,
and technology assistants work together in the Center to provide project-oriented
support. Although students are a primary audience, the facility
and its services are open to the entire EMU community.
Writing consultation, technology assistance and research help is provided
through the Center on a drop-in basis. Since many of the
projects or papers assigned to students contain a component for research,
writing, and production or dissemination that involves information technology,
providing a single location where students can receive help with all
the components of an assignment enhances student learning in these areas.
A few examples of the types of assistance available through the Center
include:
Writing Consultation
- Brainstorming ideas and developing content
- Reviewing organization
- Providing feedback as experienced critical readers on content, style,
grammar, mechanics and syntax
Technology Assistance
- Using Microsoft Office – Word, Excel, PowerPoint
- Using FTP software to transfer files
- Converting documents from Microsoft Word to Adobe PDF format
- Using the my.emich portal (email, calendar)
- Printing a poster on the large format printer
Research Help
- Getting started with research
- Identifying appropriate databases
- Developing search strategies
- Using library tools – catalog, databases, Find Text+, RefWorks
- Locating scholarly journal articles
Drop-in consulting will be available in the Academic Projects Center, which
is located in room 104 on the first floor of the Halle Library, beginning
on Monday, September 8, 2008. The Center will be open from 11-5,
Monday through Thursday. For more information, contact the APC at
487-0020 x2154 or visit the Website: http://www.emich.edu/apc/. |
