Still looking for the perfect job or internship?

Tomorrow, March 11, from 2:00-5:30pm, join Elon University for the Elon Job & Internship EXPO in Alumni Gym. This event will include 70+ organizations looking to recruit students from all majors for jobs and internships.

Flyer via The Student Professional Development Center

Remember: this event is not just for seniors! This is a chance for all students to network and make connections.

To continue with Writing Week, today I’ll be talking about the Writing Center.

We all have heard of the Writing Center, and many of us use it as a writing resource. Well the Writing Center is going through some exciting changes as the Writing Excellence Initiative gets underway, including adding new space, getting tablets, and implementing an online appointment system.

You may have noticed that the Writing Center has moved from their original office into the old resources space in the back on the library. This space this open and integrated into the library’s study spaces to provide Writing Center clients, individuals, and groups a place to meet and work on writing. With the new purchase of Writing Center tablets, clients can now access online citation guides with the help of a consultant, as well as respond to Writing Center surveys.

The online appointment system, implemented Fall 2013, is a large part of the Writing Center’s leap forward in technology. As opposed to the old walk-in system, clients can now make 15-45 minute appointments at the Writing Center with a specific consultant using MyWCOnline. The technology is simple and has resulted in a major increase in Writing Center appointments. While walk-ins are still accepted, I’d recommend making an appointment so you are guaranteed time with a consultant.

All of these Writing Center changes are exciting, but as the Writing Excellence Initiative progresses we can expect to see the Center undergo more construction and upgrades as Elon turns the Writing Center into a 21st century space.

For more information on the Writing Center, please visit their website and follow the Writing Center on Twitter @EUWritingCenter

Hello everyone!

My name is Alexa Dysch, and I am a junior pursuing an English major, with a double concentration in Professional Writing & Rhetoric (PWR) and Literature, as well as a minor in Psychology. I hope that as a CUPID Associate, I can share my experiences and impart some of skills that I have gathered in my time at Elon and within our program. I will be in Alamance 318 (CUPID) on Monday nights, from 5:30 – 7:30, so come visit!

After discovering my love for editorial work with my high school’s literary magazine, I was eager to find a university-level program that would provide the next step toward my dreams. Once I stepped into the CUPID studio, I could feel that there was no turning back. Yet, I underestimated how much I could have learned from the program. I perceived rhetoric as an outdated concept, until I took Understanding Rhetoric and was proven extremely wrong. What I thought I knew about professional writing was quickly adapted and altered, and I found myself applying the knowledge to workplace settings and seeing results in a newfound manner. Even my poor technological skills were enhanced by taking Writing Technologies. Most importantly, I was coming to understand how to analyze and shape my own online and professional identity.

Rather than a means to an end, I discovered that PWR was going to teach me much more than what I would need for a single editorial career. Between client projects with LIFESPAN, the Elon Challenge Course and the Association for Business Communication, I learned how important one’s audience is and the extent to which one must collaborate with others to complete a truly successful project. Being able to apply such skills at an internship with Alamance Magazine was a rewarding demonstration of how much I learned through the PWR program. Further, I’ve seen through our program that being a professional writer, a collaborator, an intellectual, etc., is a role that never ceases to grow, as we are constantly studying our audience at hand and the world around us that never stops changing. As a PWR major, I’ve learned that we never stop growing, as students, as rhetors, or as people.

I can’t wait to see you all in the CUPID lab, whether in classes, during open hours or at workshops!

One of my major projects this semester as a CUPID Associate was updating the Student Projects page on the CUPID website. I know that I have been apart of interesting projects and my fellow classmates have completed impressive projects, and I think that its important to showcase this work on the website. I started by emailing the PWR professors, asking what the major projects they have recently worked on. When I got a list of seven new projects, I began to reach out to the students involved in each project in order to get an understanding of what they did. I emailed these students, requesting a brief description of the audience, purpose, and outcome of the projects, but like most PWR students, they went above and beyond. I received lengthy explanations of the projects and the rhetorical strategies used throughout these projects, and this helped me effectively convey the purpose of the projects to the viewers of the CUPID website. They also sent the final deliverables, too so that I could add these to the website.

I went over a few drafts of the content, making sure it was clear and concise. For this part of the website, I didn’t want to include an excessive amount of text. I just wanted to make the key points and move on so that the reader would be more likely to browse all the projects, not just the first few. However, the content was just the beginning steps, and I still had to conquer WordPress. In three of my classes this semester, we have been using WordPress, so my skills have greatly improved. I was confident in my ability to upload the text and basic images, but I ran into trouble trying to figure out how to get the documents on the website. Was I supposed to include them directly in the page? Could I add a link that would bring you to a PDF form of each document?

I am still working on answering these questions, but this project of mine has taught me several things. First of all, PWR students accomplish impressive projects from marketing for the Association for Business Communication to writing about Highway 64 to working on publishing articles in well-known journals. Second of all, sometimes being concise and brief is okay. I had to understand my audience and realize that they probably didn’t want an in-depth analysis for each project. Instead, the page is meant to act as a broad showcase of everything PWR students are involved in. Lastly, revisions and proofreading (on paper and on the website) are very important, and sometimes, you struggle with uploading content onto the internet. However, that’s what helps you learn.

What is something you struggle with when uploading content to WordPress?