The Speaking and Writing Center (SWC) supports all speaking and writing projects for any class offered at UMW by providing free consultations to students at any stage of their academic careers interested in developing and improving written and oral communication skills. The SWC is staffed by a Director and a team of highly-trained peer consultants and receives additional support from Speaking Intensive and Writing Intensive faculty leaders.
The SWC supports oral and written communication skills development through one-on-one or group consultations that address every stage of the composing process from brainstorming to final presentation and editing including, but not limited to, speaking and writing anxiety, developing ideas, constructing visual aids and incorporating visuals into a paper, taking a project from paper to presentation, structure and organization, achieving unity and coherence, style and voice, and a variety of citation styles.
In addition to providing supportive and informative consultations, the SWC also provides in-class workshops upon instructor request; houses a lending library with a variety of resources including citation, manuals, guides to speaking and writing, and fiction and non-fiction texts; and distributes handouts on a variety of topics. The SWC can also provide recording services for students who would like to be able to review their oral presentations.
The Speaking and Writing Center adheres strictly to the Honor Code: consultants will not compose any portion of a paper or presentation for a student, nor will they do research for a student.