Writing Support Services
Writing Support Services offers a supportive atmosphere in which clients can have confidential dialog with our consultants, who are knowledgeable doctoral students, about your writing projects. Our staff offer a non-directive, responsive approach to clients’ writing, aiming to provide students with strategies to learn productive habits in all stages of writing. We encourage students to engage with consultants early in the writing process—even to brainstorm ideas—and to develop a consistent relationship with one or more consultants.
Students, staff, and faculty are encouraged to book appointments in advance on an individual or group basis (for groups working on the same project). Clients may also take advantage of our drop-in hours, which are made available if no one has scheduled advance appointments up until 24 hours before the meeting time. We also offer a list of for-fee consultants on our Resources page. Please note: WSS is not an editing service, nor do we check referencing format.
- Free individual consulting sessions
- Drop-in consultations
- Writing resources
Scheduling Information
For the first two weeks of the fall and spring semesters, Writing Support Services offers limited individual consulting hours. Starting from the third week of each semester, the Writing Support Services will offer regular consulting hours. Visit our scheduling system for information. If all appointments are taken or if none of the available hours work for you, please email the WSS Coordinator.
How to Schedule and Prepare for an Appointment
- Go to our scheduling system.
- Use your Active Directory ID and password.
- Once you are logged in to the scheduling system, the calendar will display available appointments.
- Select an open time to make an appointment. After you make the appointment, you will receive a confirmation email, informing you of the place and time to meet your consultant. Each person is limited to one appointment per week.
- At least 24 hours before your appointment, email a draft of your paper as an attachment to warnerwritingsupport@warner.rochester.edu and/or your consultant's email address. In your email, list two or three aspects of your paper that you would like to focus on during your appointment.
- If an appointment is listed as a “Drop-in” appointment, you do not need to make an appointment. Simply visit LeChase 370 to meet with a writing consultant during drop-in hours.
Need Writing Assistance?
Scheduling Conflicts?
If our scheduled workshops or proposed consultation sessions conflict with your work or course schedule, please contact us: warnerwritingsupport@ur.rochester.edu
Fall 2026 Writing Workshops
Our workshops are designed to help you improve your writing skills and assist you in creating high performing resumes and cover letters, preparing for conferences, seeking and citing research sources, and more. Attend workshops via Zoom.
Our workshops are recorded, and participants can access video recordings upon request. Contact warnerwritingsupport@warner.rochester.edu for access to recorded sessions.
Friday, Sept. 18, 4:15 p.m.-5:45 p.m.
HYBRID: Attend in person in LeChase 481 or on Zoom
Registration is required to attend this workshop. Please register here.
This workshop explores the intersections of artificial intelligence and academic literacy. We will examine how AI tools work; how AI may affect academic communication; and the importance of using AI as a resource rather than a substitute for scholarly work. It covers key aspects of academic literacy, academic honesty policies, and ethical and copyright considerations.
For accommodation requests, please contact the Office of Disability Resources at disability@rochester.edu or (585) 276-5075.
More information is available at www.rochester.edu/college/disability.
Friday, Oct. 16, 4:15 p.m.-5:45 p.m., held on Zoom
Registration is required to attend this workshop. Please register here.
This workshop focuses on reading academic journal articles and other academic texts not only for the findings they impart but also rhetorically—to understand how they are constructed and how to glean information efficiently. Participants will deconstruct texts by identifying arguments, pinpointing an author’s position, evaluating evidence, asking questions, and taking notes. We will explore how AI tools can help with text analysis and note-taking while supporting critical thinking. NOTE: This is NOT a speed-reading course, but a key step to unpacking academic writing.
For accommodation requests, please contact the Office of Disability Resources at disability@rochester.edu or (585) 276-5075.
More information is available at www.rochester.edu/college/disability.
Friday, Oct. 23, 4:15 p.m.-5:45 p.m., held on Zoom
Registration is required to attend this workshop. Please register here.
Making arguments is a core function of most academic writing, from critical commentaries to comprehensive examinations and literature reviews to dissertation and conference proposals to master’s theses and doctoral dissertations. This workshop covers how to develop arguments drawing on your ideas, the research literature, and other evidence. It explores AI tools that can help support you in developing arguments while ensuring that your voice and critical analysis are central to your writing.
For accommodation requests, please contact the Office of Disability Resources at disability@rochester.edu or (585) 276-5075.
More information is available at www.rochester.edu/college/disability.
Saturday, Oct. 31, 10:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m., held on Zoom
Registration is required to attend this workshop. Please register here.
This workshop focuses on the beginning stages of reading and writing about a new topic. We will explore the typical structure of literature reviews, consider variations, and explain how to write one. Participants will learn strategies central to the work of crafting a literature review, including establishing inclusion and exclusion criteria for the literature you cover; moving from summary to synthesis of knowledge from sources; and identifying themes across a body of research. We will also discuss how AI can assist in the process of writing literature reviews, while ensuring critical analysis and synthesis remain your own work.
For accommodation requests, please contact the Office of Disability Resources at disability@rochester.edu or (585) 276-5075.
More information is available at www.rochester.edu/college/disability.
Friday, Nov. 6, 4:15 p.m.-5:45 p.m., held on Zoom
Registration is required to attend this workshop. Please register here.
This workshop shifts to focus on the later stages of reading and writing about a topic in the process of writing a review. As making arguments is a core function of a literature review, this session discusses how to establish criteria by which to set up critiques and how to develop an argument by drawing on the findings of a specific body of research. Participants will learn how to draw on research evidence to support an argument in a literature review paper, section, or chapter. AI considerations will be discussed in terms of how it can aid or inhibit argumentation.
For accommodation requests, please contact the Office of Disability Resources at disability@rochester.edu or (585) 276-5075.
More information is available at www.rochester.edu/college/disability.
Somayyeh Ariyanfar
Somayyeh is a PhD student in Teaching, Curriculum, and Change at the Warner Graduate School of Education, University of Rochester, focusing on human–machine interaction in knowledge representation, reasoning, and writing. She holds a master's degree in English Language Teaching and has over 11 years of experience teaching English in private language institutions, working with learners across different age ranges, with her main focus in recent years on IELTS Academic preparation. Her goal is to design educational AI tools that enhance learning and thinking across academic and professional contexts.
Vanessa Medina Castro
Vanessa is a PhD student in Teaching and Curriculum at the Warner School of Education and a Scandling scholar. She holds a BA and an MA in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages from the University of Guadalajara in Mexico. She has taught undergraduates, professionals, and adults for over 10 years, and designed instructional materials for language programs, including a manual to develop English language learners' writing skills. Her research interests include intercultural communication, language and culture, and teachers’ professional development.
Onesmo Mushi
Onesmo is a PhD candidate in the Teaching and Curriculum program at the Warner School of Education, University of Rochester. He holds a master’s degree in TESOL from Indiana University of Pennsylvania as a Fulbright Scholar. His 12 years of teaching experience spans Tanzania, China, and the United States. He has taught English to secondary students, college writing, research writing, language and literacy, and AI and Education classes. He has also worked at three different writing centers serving undergraduate and graduate students for six years. His current research examines the role of international research collaborations between scholars in the United States and Africa in enhancing access to scientific knowledge production through research and publishing. His broader interests focus on the politics of multilingual writing and issues of access in academic publishing.
Dardan Shabani
Dardan is a PhD student in Teaching and Curriculum at the Warner Graduate School of Education. He has a master’s degree in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) from the same school. He has been working as an English teacher for 11 years in different educational institutions, such as English language centers, public schools, and higher education, and in various geolinguistic contexts, including Kosovo, United States, and France. He has taught courses such as English for Academic Purposes, Business English, and introductory course in linguistics at Université Lumière and Université Jean Moulin in Lyon, France. His research interests lie in the field of TESOL and English teacher identity.
Frequently Asked Questions
Writing Support Services offers assistance to Warner students in many areas of writing. Students are expected to take responsibility for their choices about their own writing. We encourage students to take notes during consultation sessions. Among the services offered, we:
- Review your paper before a scheduled session and prepare questions that other readers may ask.
- Answer your questions and try to respond to your concerns about your paper.
- Direct your attention to resources that might prove useful.
- Suggest strategies, offer encouragement, and provide information to help you move forward with your work.
- Help you set priorities based on your needs, identifying points of revision that are possible within a particular timeframe.
- Help you clarify the point of a section or the whole paper by asking questions and listening to your answers.
- Indicate patterns in your writing that you may wish to modify: organization of points, sentence patterns, word choice, tone, grammar, etc.
Although we try to meet many needs of students, we cannot:
- Proofread or edit drafts of papers
- Address every strength and weakness in the draft, or point out every issue related to sentence structure, grammar, or mechanics.
- Promise that your paper will be finished when you leave the consultation; in all likelihood you will leave with work to do.
- Guarantee a one-to-one correlation between your consultation and better grades. Nor will we discuss grades during sessions.
- Guarantee that our interpretation of an instructor’s assignment will be accurate.
Students who want proofreading assistance can access the link below to view a list of editor and proofreader freelance consultants who offer their services for a fee.
A typical session will address one or more of the following concerns: focus, organization/structure, audience, transitions, paragraph unity, and grammar/syntax. Sessions will be 50 minutes long, with an additional 5 to 10 minutes for wrap-up and evaluation. For papers longer than 15 pages, you may want to make several appointments during your writing process. Because of high demand, each student may only schedule one consultation per week.
If you have questions about whether it is appropriate to get feedback from the Writing Support Services on take-home exams or comprehensive exams, please ask your instructor or advisor before bringing in your paper. Teaching and Curriculum doctoral students may not use Writing Support Services for help with their comprehensive exams, unless they are users of English as an additional language. Support for comprehensive examinations will be limited to two appointments per examination. Students may also bring revised comprehensive examinations for writing support (for an additional two appointments).
The earlier in the writing process you use Writing Support Services, the more helpful the consultants can be. Keep in mind that scheduling an appointment for the day before a paper is due will most likely be more stressful than helpful. Please allow at least three to four days for revision between your appointment and the assignment due date.
When you schedule a session you will receive a confirmation email stating the location of your consultation—there is no longer an office available for WSS consultations.
However, if you cancel within three hours of your appointment time, you will be considered a “no show.” Students who are “no shows” for three appointments during one semester will be blocked from appointments for the rest of the semester.
No less than 24 hours before your appointment, please e-mail the following to: warnerwritingsupport@warner.rochester.edu:
- The writing prompt or assignment from the instructor.
- Your paper, double-spaced. If it is a long text, either send a section or note which section you want to receive support on. (If you have not started to write your paper, bring your notes and ideas about it.)
- A statement in your e-mail that identifies two or three areas that you would like to focus on during the session (e.g., your argument, organization, clarity, APA style, etc.).
If your text is not ready 24 hours in advance, you may still bring content and ideas for discussion; however, the consultant will not prepare in advance. Consultants are not available to go over the specifics of an assignment; please contact the instructor with these questions.
Drop-in writing support sessions offer you an opportunity to discuss academic writing questions face-to-face with a writing consultant, without scheduling an appointment in advance. Drop-in sessions are available only when not all of the regularly scheduled appointments have been reserved.
- To find out if Drop-in appointments will be available on a particular day, visit our scheduling system on that same day and look for appointment hours labeled ‘Drop in’. These appointments are automatically made available on our webpage on a rolling basis, 24hours before an open appointment slot.
- Drop-in sessions are available on a first-come, first-served basis.
- A physical sign-up sheet will be available 30 minutes in advance of the Drop-in Consultations outside of LeChase room 370. You must go to the room at that time and sign up to reserve the drop-in slot for that particular day.
- You may use as many drop-in appointments as are available, but you must sign up for each one separately.
- Using a drop-in appointment will not prevent you from being allowed to sign up for a full writing consultation appointment during the same week.
- Drop-in consulting sessions are an experiment of the Writing Support Services. This service may be discontinued if it is not used. We welcome your feedback on our experiment! To give feedback or for more information, please email the WSS Coordinator.
Contact Us
Email inquiries to:
Disability Accommodations
For assistance, please contact the Office of Disability Resources at disability@rochester.edu or (585) 276-5075.
More information is available at www.rochester.edu/college/disability.