Writing Consultations

 

We offer free writing consultation appointments to all registered graduate students and postdoctoral scholars on any piece of writing you may be working on, including academic writing, job applications, fellowship materials, and writing for the public. 

Consultations are structured around your goals for your writing. Our consultants not only provide constructive feedback on drafts, but they can also help you brainstorm, plan or map out your writing project, work through writing apprehension, and increase your writing productivity. Whether you’re at the brainstorming stage, revising a draft, or anywhere in between, we’re here to support you.

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How to Schedule a Writing Consultation

Appointments are available in advance on a first-come, first-serve basis through ZotPASS, an official UCI platform powered by TEDU. You can book an appointment by hitting the button above or by downloading the ZotPASS app from the Apple or Android app stores. 

You can sign up for 30- or 60-minute appointments up to 90 minutes before the start of the appointment. For those appointments that allow for a choice between in-person and virtual availability, you will be asked to indicate how you prefer to meet. Students can sign up for up to 90 minutes total of appointments per week up to 14 days in advance.

When you book an appointment, we kindly ask that you indicate any relevant accommodations or accessibility requests. You can also do so using the “Chat” function in ZotPass before the start of your session.

How to Prepare for Your Writing Consultation

We consult with students at all stages of the writing process – you can come to a consultation with a draft, an outline, or even a blank page. You are encouraged, although not required, to upload your writing up to 48 hours prior to your appointment time so that your consultant can familiarize themselves with your draft. We also recommend that you include instructions or guidelines from an assignment or application, when possible and relevant.

If the length of the writing that you would like to discuss is 5 pages or fewer, you may choose between a 30-minute and 60-minute consultation. If your draft is 5–15 pages, please schedule an hourlong consultation. You will be asked in advance to share which sections, issues, or concerns you would like to address during the consultations.

What to Expect

Our writing consultations are designed to be interactive and collaborative. Our goal is to engage you in meaningful dialogue, respecting your agency as a writer. Your writing consultant will start by listening to your goals for your project. The session is a partnership where we discuss your work together—your consultant will offer observations and raise issues to address, but you’ll steer the direction.

We focus on generating strategies for revision that prioritize your needs and goals, rather than just fixing errors for you. Rather than offer line-by-line edits, we work with you to improve the clarity, concision, and force of your writing. Our consultants are trained in writing pedagogy and will help you understand genre-specific conventions and identify areas for improvement.

As writing consultations are intended to be a dynamic dialogue on your writing, we do ask that you be present and actively involved for the entire duration of their appointment, whether virtual or in-person. Generally, successful consultations involve a face-to-face conversation, and run more smoothly when virtual appointments are conducted on a laptop or desktop computer.

Hours and Location

Consultations are offered every quarter, including the summer months. Our specific consultations schedule is subject to consultant availability, but includes virtual weekend and evening hours. We work with students online and in person at various locations, including:

  • The Graduate Writing Center
  • Verano Housing 

The specific location for any in-person consultation is indicated in ZOTPass. Any in-person consultation can be converted into a virtual consultation when booking on ZOTPass.

Cancellation Policy

To help us serve students effectively and equitably, we ask that you generally cancel any appointments you will be unable to make at least 24 hours in advance. Please be aware of the following:

  1. Late Cancellations: Appointments cancelled an hour or less before the scheduled time will be considered late cancellations.
  2. Late Arrivals: Students who are more than 10 minutes late to their appointment without prior notification will be counted as no-shows.
  3. No-Shows: Students who fail to arrive for the appointment without prior notice will incur a no-show.

Students that accumulate three instances of late cancellations or no-shows during a single semester will be unable to use the Writing Center services for the remainder of that quarter. If you have any questions about this policy, please reach out to our front desk at writing-center@uci.edu.

Privacy Policy

All of our services are confidential, except what is required by university policy or law. You are not permitted to give your appointment slots to others, bring in work written by someone else, or have someone else bring in your writing for you. The Writing Center reserves the right to grant or restrict access to its services.