student writing support

Student Writing Support provides free writing instruction for all University of Minnesota students—graduate and undergraduate—at all stages of the writing process. In face-to-face and online collaborative consultations, we help students develop productive writing habits and revision strategies.

Click here to make an appointment for either a face-to-face or online consultation.
Click here for walk-in hours and locations.

student writing consultants

Our consultants are teachers of writing: graduate and undergraduate teaching assistants and professional staff. Some consultants specialize in working with non-native speakers, and others have experience with writing in specific disciplines.

face-to-face and online consulting

In one-to-one sessions, our writing consultants will help students—

• Get started on assignments
• Break through writer’s block
• See their work from a reader's perspective
• Learn strategies for revising, editing, and proofreading
• Access writing resources

what to bring

• A copy of the writing you want to work on or as many initial ideas as you have for your project
• Any directions your instructor has given you for the assignment, including assignment sheets, your syllabus, and in-class notes
• Any previous drafts or feedback on your writing
• A pen and paper to take notes from the session
• A willingness to work collaboratively with your writing consultant

what to expect

• In Nicholson Hall, most sessions last about 45 minutes; in Appleby Hall and our satellite locations, most sessions last about 30 minutes.
• The writing consultant will ask to see any directions for the assignment and ask you to explain the assignment in your own words.
• The consultant will ask you questions about your concerns and what you’ve written/thought about so far on your paper or project.
• The consultant will read some of your work or ask you to read it aloud.
• The consultant will discuss with you strengths in your writing and areas for improvement.
• The consultant’s goal is to help you develop writing strategies to apply to this particular paper/project and future work.

how to get the most out of SWS

come in early

• The sooner you come in before a writing project is due, the more help you can get.
• Even if you haven’t written anything, we can help you brainstorm and get started.
• Make appointments in advance of the “last minute rush” on SWS at peak paper due-date times (such as mid-terms and finals).

come prepared

• Sessions run much more smoothly if you have everything ready and accessible (your paper draft, notes, syllabus, and assignment sheet).
• The more information you have for us about your writing assignment and goals, the better we can serve you.
• Decide before the session which parts of the paper or particular writing issues you would like to focus on.

come in often

• The more visits you make to SWS, the more help you can get and the more your writing can improve.
• Consider making regular appointments with the same writing consultant to receive writing instruction customized around your specific concerns.

Look at our policies document (a pdf) to learn more about what to expect and how to get the most from your visit to the Center.

computer lab in Nicholson Hall

Through a generous grant from the CLA Student Information Technology Fees Committee, we have a 24-station computer lab for use on writing assignments and web-based research.

• For printing in the lab, we accept your UCard (you can load more money onto your UCard in the Language Center Multimedia Lab, 135 Jones Hall). Like other computer labs, we charge ten cents for each printed page. We cannot accept cash for printing.