What is the Writing Center?
The Writing Center is available to provide one-on-one support to all undergraduate and graduate students on campus, regardless of their major or program of study. No matter where you are in your writing process, the Writing Center is a place where you can get feedback, talk through your ideas, and make a plan for finishing your writing projects.
Schedule an in-person or a virtual appointment.
Who works at the Writing Center?
The Writing Center is staffed by current and former instructors in the English Department. All of our consultants are committed to the following:
- Students guide the priorities for the session. Your Writing Center consultant is there to support you as you ask questions, talk about your work, and develop your ideas.
- We approach student writing collaboratively. Your consultant values your autonomy and decision-making. While they will make suggestions, they are offering the perspective of one reader on your work. You as the writer can ultimately decide how to implement our feedback.
- We welcome writing at any stage and from any discipline. You are encouraged to bring writing from any of your courses. In addition, you can use the Writing Center to work on other writing such as job materials and graduate school applications.
- We promote a culture of respect, kindness, and inclusivity among consultants and writers. The Writing Center welcomes students from diverse backgrounds, including those with differing language backgrounds, learning styles, and levels of writing experience.
What is the Writing Center like?
You can make either a 30-minute or a 60-minute appointment. We offer both in-person and virtual formats. Each session is unique, but, in general, you can expect the following from a Writing Center session:
- You will be asked to talk about your writing and your thought process. We approach writing as a meta-cognitive process, meaning that we want to help you learn to reflect, ask questions, and develop your own process for approaching writing tasks.
- Your consultant may ask you questions about the course, the assignment, your reading, and your process. We want to be as helpful to you as possible, so we ask questions to help us understand your priorities and your assignment.
- We might ask to read your draft out loud. If you are comfortable with this option, reading aloud will help your consultant and you experience your writing in ways that will support an open and collaborative discussion of your work. This will also allow you to notice patterns in your work that you might not have noticed otherwise.
- We might not get to everything in one session. Your consultant will, however, help you notice patterns in your writing and will help you develop a plan for how to move forward with your writing project. Many times students will make a follow-up appointment to help them complete longer projects.
Where is the Writing Center?
The Writing Center is located on the second floor of Besse Library.* Our scheduling page can be found here.
*Please note, during Summer 2026, the Writing Center will be located in Mullen 335. We will return to Besse Library in Fall 2026 when the summer renovation projects are complete.
