Student Resources

The Cooper Center provides tutoring in a wide variety of disciplines. From writing and public speaking to discipline-specific courses like chemistry and music, resources exist to improve your skills so you can reach your goals. Check out the categories below to learn more about resources available to you.

Discipline-Specific Tutoring

The Cooper Center offers free individual and group peer-to-peer tutoring for all students at NWU. Make an appoint with a Cooper Tutor

Cooper Tutors are NWU students who have demonstrated competence in particular subject areas and have good communication skills. They are trained by Dr. Melissa Hayes in using collaborative learning techniques and model how to learn, rather than solely focusing on the course content. They facilitate study sessions or tutoring appointments up to three times per week in order to assist their peers with critical thinking and study strategies that can transfer across disciplines and courses.

Students who work with Cooper Tutors will discover appropriate application of study strategies (e.g., note taking, graphic organization, questioning techniques, vocabulary acquisition and test preparation) as they review content material. They will develop a greater understanding of course material while fostering relationships and having fun with other students!

Cooper Tutors will help you develop and strengthen your study skills, but what can you do to prepare for your session(s)?

• Bring everything you need to study—books, notes, pens/pencils, paper, calculator, laptop, etc.
• Be punctual and considerate.
• Be ready to engage in conversation and to learn how to answer your own questions. Cooper Tutors will not be telling you the answers all the time.
• Be as specific as possible about what you are hoping to achieve in the tutoring session.
• Attempt homework on your own before your session.
• Avoid looking at or using your cell phone.

Writing

Bring to the Cooper Center a copy of the assignment and a draft of your paper. A trained consultant will review your paper and offer suggestions for how you might effectively revise it.

 

Remember that writing and revising are intertwined processes. The best writers are often the most serious about revision. All writers, regardless of their experience and ability, benefit from engaged readers’ responses.

While our consultants vary in style, there are certain things that they will and will not do in a conference.

Consultants will:

• Read your paper or ask you to read it aloud
• Listen to you carefully
• Show you effective and less effective parts of your paper
• Ask questions to help you identify a claim or develop your points
• Mark passages that seem wordy or unclear
• Demonstrate ways of revising particular sentences
• Point out and explain errors
• Ask you to locate similar errors
• Identify patterns of errors in your writing
• Help you develop strategies to revise your own work

Consultants won’t:

• Write your paper for you
• Revise your paper for you
• Ridicule your writing
• Guarantee a grade
• “Fix” your paper without you

Remember that writing and revising are intertwined processes. The best writers are often the most serious about revision. All writers, regardless of their experience and ability, benefit from engaged readers’ responses.

Programs

Write-A-Thon

Join us each semester as we write, write, write together! Work on any project(s) you need to write and/or revise before the end of the semester. Consult with "Roving Writers" to bounce ideas as you collaborate with others, or work alone and ask for a read-through of your work for clarity, structure, or citation formatting. Enjoy snacks and a chance to win prizes too!

Study-A-Thon

Join us during Culmination Week each semester as we prep for finals at the Cooper Center! Study with friends, ask questions from Peer Tutors, and take a break with fun activities. Past events have featured a Pomodoro Room, Yoga, Therapy Dogs, and dedicated time with our Cooper Center Tutors from a variety of disciplines.

Tips and Tools

Coming this fall - a monthly newsletter

Resources

Reporter’s Formula Grid40.51 KB

Critique Guide65.87 KB

Thesis Construction Guide47.75 KB

Style Guides
APA (American Psychology Association)
ASA
Chicago Manual of Style

Writing Tools

Writing Project Calculator
Online Writing Lab (OWL)
The Gunning’s Fog Index (or FOG) Readability Formula