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What is the OWL?

The Success Center Online Writing Lab provides access to writing tutors for Southwestern Illinois College students. The OWL offers a convenient alternative to face-to-face writing tutoring which is available at each Success Center. Papers are submitted to the OWL through eSTORM.

What should I name my assignment?

It is important to give each assignment a unique short name so that it can be easily identified. You may want to give it a name that corresponds to the class and the assignment number, such as English Paper 1.

What if I don’t know my instructor’s name?

Refer to your class syllabus. The name of your instructor is probably printed on the first page.

How do I describe my assignment?

A Information about the assignment can probably be found on a handout, on an assignment sheet or in your class syllabus.

What kinds of questions should I ask the writing tutor about my assignment?

You may want to ask the tutor one of the following sample questions or come up with questions of your own.

1. Do you understand everything in the paper? Is it clear?
2. What else can I add to make it better or more interesting?
3. Do my opening and closing paragraphs fit the rest of the paper?
4. Where are my strengths and weaknesses?

How do I copy and paste my assignment?

Here are some instructions that should get you through the process of copying and pasting your assignment.

1. Minimize your Web browser.
2. Using your word processor, open your writing assignment.
3. Look for the “Edit” menu in your word processor and click on the “Select All” item. This should highlight your whole writing assignment.
4. Go back into the “Edit” menu and select “Copy.”
5. Minimize your word processor.
6. Restore the Web browser.
7. Click in the “Copy and paste your writing assignment here:” box. This should put a cursor in the box.
8. Go to the “Edit” menu in the browser and select “Paste.”
9. Your writing assignment should appear in the box.