Grad Students
Graduate students use the Writing Center, too!
The Writing Center provides individualized support for writing that graduate courses and advising don’t always cover. Ultimately, we can help you develop your writing skills beyond what is explicitly taught in grad school.
What Can We Do for You?
Instead of navigating the complex expectations of graduate writing on your own, Writing Center consultations can help you…
- Narrow research questions
- Craft original and appropriately supported claims
- Develop an authoritative, scholarly voice
- Unpack the requirements for writing in a specific genre
- Rethink word choice and stance-taking moves
- Address grammatical issues that impact the reception of high-stakes writing projects
- Organize writing according to appropriate genre conventions
- Provide convincing evidence and research
- Frame your work to suit a particular audience
We will work with you at any stage of the writing process: planning, drafting, revising, and editing. You might seek help with…
- Literature reviews
- Annotated bibliographies
- Abstracts
- Article analysis
- Case studies
- Thesis
- Dissertation
- Portfolios
…And much more!
Why Should You Use the Writing Center?
A study conducted by Lenaghan (2018) found that graduate writers who routinely use Writing Center services benefit in a number of ways:
- The strategic questioning and open dialogue of Writing Center consultations help graduate writers identify and diagnose issues in their writing.
- Consultations help graduate writers understand the rhetorical, disciplinary, or genre features of the kinds of writing they will have to engage in throughout their careers.
- Because Writing Center consultants provide an audience’s perspective of the text, graduate writers are better able to identify moments of confusion or misunderstanding in their writing.
- Consultations help graduate writers develop long-term habits for writing productivity (ie. cultivating skills to manage writing apprehension, planning for deadlines, working through writer’s block, etc.).
Make an Appointment!
We understand that the demands of graduate writing often require more time for discussion and revision, so we offer grad students the opportunity to schedule longer appointments. Your sessions can be as short as 30 minutes or as long as 90 minutes. You are also welcome to schedule recurring appointments for up to 4 hours per week.
While all of our consultants are trained to support graduate writing, you are welcome to schedule appointments with our graduate consultants, specifically. You can find a list of our consultants on our meet the consultants page.