Graduate Writing Consultations

The Graduate Writing Lab (GWL) offers free consultations by appointment with trained and certified graduate writing consultants. Our peer consultants offer helpful feedback on any kind of writing at any stage in the writing process. The Graduate Writing Consultants service is a collaboration between the THINK TANK Writing Center and the Graduate College.

Consultant Schedule

Fall 2025 consultations begin Sept 2 and end Dec 16. Students will be able to schedule appointments beginning August 26. 

We are transitioning to a new scheduling system. For now, you can access our services through the THINK TANK Writing Center appointment system

Campus units can book a date and time when Graduate Writing Consultants visit your department/organization to host 2-hour, Drop-In Writing Consultations for graduate students. 

Support Styles

  • In person
  • Zoom
  • Feedback Loop - Submit a document for review and receive at a scheduled time

What should I expect and what do the consultants help with?

During each session, consultants get acquainted with the student’s writing, answer questions, identify patterns, make recommendations, and help the student come up with a plan for moving forward. Graduate Writing Consultants will spend 30 minutes per student providing feedback on any piece of writing at any stage. 

 

What We Can Cover in Writing Consultations 

What We Cannot Cover in Writing Consultations 

  • Can help you make a writing plan (even before you begin writing). 

  • Can brainstorm ideas for writing project (e.g., help brainstorm topics for a personal statement).

  • Can help you draft or revise personal statements, fellowship applications, lab reports, theses, dissertations, resumes, poster and conference presentations, and even professional emails.

  • Can work on identifying writing patterns (e.g., patterns of run-on sentences, repetition, etc.).

  • Can introduce new strategies/tools to help with writing and editing (e.g., introduce and practice a writing strategy for organizing information in a paper).

  • Cannot work on examinations (e.g., comprehensive exams, course exams, etc.). Please contact us if you and your advisor think your situation warrants an exception.

  • Cannot give evaluative feedback (e.g., whether or not they will receive a good grade and/or met rubric criteria).

  • Cannot give guidance on content (e.g., content-specific ideas to include in theoretical frameworks, literature, etc.) but we can help you learn to frame better questions for your professors about content.

  • Cannot “line edit” writing (e.g., fix grammatical, spelling, or punctuation errors), but we can help you learn to line edit your own writing.