The Writing Center

Announcements

The Writing Center is open with a limited schedule of virtual conferences that will be held over Zoom. Alumni and current students applying to health professional schools are welcome to make up to four appointments with us per application cycle to receive feedback on their materials, subject to availability.

Have a question or not sure how to proceed? Contact [email protected].

Every writer needs a reader, and the Writing Center has a reader for every writer! Trained to respond to writing from a variety of genres and disciplines, Writing Center Fellows offer free, one-on-one conferences about writing at any stage in the process.

Located in New South, the Writing Center welcomes undergraduate and graduate students working on any kind of writing project, as well as postdocs and faculty working on writing related to their research. We regularly see:

  • undergraduate students working on essays for classes
  • juniors and seniors working on independent research projects
  • graduate students working on seminar papers, research or grant proposals, articles, or dissertations
  • international students making the transition to U.S. academic writing
  • students writing essays for fellowships or for graduate school or job applications
  • students crafting oral presentations

Writing Center Fellows can help with any part of the writing process: brainstorming ideas, developing a thesis, structuring an argument, or revising a draft. The goal of each conference is to develop strategies that will encourage students to become astute readers and critics of their own work. Although the Writing Center is not an editing or proofreading service, Fellows can help students identify patterns in their writing related to mechanics and sentence structure.

Writing Center Fellows are there to listen, strategize, suggest, diagnose, and offer advice. They serve as sounding boards, careful readers, and helpful critics, and are able to help draw out ideas and possibilities that are implicit in a student's own thinking and writing. Writing Center conferences complement, but do not replace, the relationships students have with their teachers and advisors.

Scheduling an Appointment

To meet with a Writing Center Fellow, make an appointment using one of the links below. Come with whatever you've got—an assignment, ideas, rough notes, or a partial or full draft.

Writing Center Conferences

Open to all undergraduates and graduate students working on writing of any kind and at any stage in the process.

Bring a prompt to brainstorm, a rough draft of an essay, a cover letter, a grant proposal, a personal statement, a creative piece, or an oral presentation!

Standard Writing Center conferences are 50 minutes in length.

BOOK a WRITING CENTER CONFERENCE

Research Writing Conferences

These appointments are reserved for:

  • Undergraduate juniors and seniors working on independent work or applications for graduate school or fellowships. Bring ideas for a junior paper, a thesis funding proposal, or selections from a thesis!
  • Graduate students, postdocs, faculty, and staff working on writing related to their research and teaching. Bring ideas for a seminar paper or conference presentation, a grant or fellowship proposal, a draft of an article, or selections from a dissertation!

Research Writing conferences with the Writing Center are 50 or 80 minutes in length.

Postdocs, faculty, and staff must request access to our scheduling system.

Book a Research Writing Conference

Anatomy of a Writing Center Conference

Where Is the Writing Center?

During the academic year, while classes are in session and during Reading Period, Writing Center conferences take place in person at the Writing Center in New South. Take the elevator or the stairs to the second floor and enter the door labeled "The Writing Center" (to the left as you exit the stairs or to the right as you exit the elevator). Take a seat in our reception area and a Writing Center Fellow will come and find you at the start time of your appointment.

Policies & Frequently Asked Questions

Our Approach

Our Policies

Our Scheduling System