Writing Center
Individual Consultations
Good writing is a process of continuous revision. A written piece is like clay that is worked and shaped many times until the sculptor is satisfied. Consultations help writers experience an objective and constructive analysis of their work, relieve their writing-related anxiety, and overcome obstacles in the writing process. We will help you to bolster the strengths of and combat the weaknesses in your writing.
We are happy to work with you on your dissertation chapter, dissertation prospectus, grant application, research paper, research statement, conference abstract, presentation, or coursework. We are ready to help you at any stage of the writing process from an outline to the final draft. We refer all students who require assistance with CVs and other career materials to Victoria Blodgett at Graduate Career Services. If you need help with your teaching portfolio or your teaching statement, schedule a consultation with Bill Rando or Kristin Rudenga at the Graduate Teaching Center.
Participating departments include Ph.D. programs in all disciplines and master’s programs administered by the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Students in these programs are eligible to use our consultation service for free. Students from professional schools, post-doctoral fellows, MD students, and JD students are currently not eligible and are encouraged to contact their home departments.
- Schedule a consultation using “Book Your Appointment.” Create your account and your password to access the online scheduler. Choose the available time that works for you, and schedule an appointment by answering several questions. Then save your appointment. You may choose to upload your document at that time or do it later. You will receive a confirmation and a reminder about your appointment through your email.
- You can sign up for two 30-minute sessions per week for as many weeks as you need. If you want to be tutored in excess of this limit, contact Elena Kallestinova to seek permission to use extra time. You will be asked to upload your writing sample at the end.
- You are able to upload your document to your consultation at any time before the day of your appointment through the scheduler’s upload function. If your document is 1,000 words or less, please upload your document at least 24 hours in advance of your appointment. If your document is longer than 1,000 please upload it at least 48 hours before your scheduled appointment. In no way should your document exceed 5,000 words (or about 20 double-space pages) per appointment.
- When you come to the consultation, always bring a printed copy of your piece. The Graduate Writing Center does not provide printing services.
- After your appointment, you will receive an email inviting you to complete an anonymous survey about your consultation. Please send us your feedback: we care that you have a very positive experience during your consultation in the Graduate Writing Center!
If you need to cancel your consultation, you can access and cancel your appointment through your account in the scheduling system as soon as you are aware of the change and up to 24 hours before the time of your appointment. The system will not allow you to cancel your appointment after that time. If an emergency arises less than 24 hours before your appointment, you should immediately contact your advisor. Please note that if you cancel your appointment less than 24 hours in advance without a strong reason or do not show up, a fine of $25 will be charged to your Yale bursar account for every 30-minute appointment.
Please be aware that after three unexplained absences at appointments or frivolous cancellations, your eligibility to use the Graduate Writing Center will be revoked.
The Center’s objective is to help graduate students grow as independent academic writers, rather than to fix their papers. Writing advisors can work with you on clarity and coherence, discuss the development of your argument, offer strategies to strengthen your structure or express your voice. They can help you with your paragraph and sentence structure and enhance your grammar. The Writing Center does not provide copy-editing or proofreading services. If you are interested in improving your editing and proofreading skills, please consult our online tutorials.
Most individual consultations take place in the Graduate Writing Center located on 35 Broadway in Room 218. To access the building, please take the passage between Mory’s and Toad’s places from York Street (not Broadway). The Graduate Writing Center is on the second floor. Some consultations in the Natural and Social Sciences take place in the Medical Library (SHM) or Center for Science and Social Science Information (CSSSI) in the Kline Tower. You will be notified about the location of your consultation when you schedule your appointment.
Graduate School Writing Advisors are Ph.D. students with extensive experience in editing and teaching. Advisors’ positions are competitive and selective. The advisors in the Graduate Writing Center have proved themselves to be excellent in providing feedback to other students’ writing. We are very proud of them!
If you want to be a writing advisor, please contact Elena Kallestinova for more information. The applications for the new academic year are available in March and April and can be accessed through the Graduate Writing Center website.
