Today we welcome Becca Cassady to Bear Tracks. Becca is a PhD candidate in English, focusing on Rhetoric and Composition, and serves as the Graduate Writing Center Coordinator. She is also the Executive Vice President of the Graduate Student Association and mentors undergraduate students in the Honors Residential College.
Ask almost any graduate student—almost anyone in higher ed, really—and we’ve been there: So deep in a dissertation chapter that we can’t write our way out. Stumped by cryptic “revise and resubmit” feedback. Unable to please a grant committee comprised of academics outside of our discipline. Intimidated by a blank Word document at the beginning of a project. Even when we’re pretty pleased with a document, sometimes we still hesitate to hit “send.”
Writing can be hard. Especially if you feel like you’re in it alone.
Enter the Graduate Writing Center (GWC). The GWC is a Graduate School service designed to aid students with their various writing projects—from class assignments to dissertation chapters to job application materials. We help brainstorm, reorganize complex arguments, reword ambiguous or unclear sentences, and more. All of our consultants are advanced stage doctoral students with extensive writing training and experience. We offer writing groups that you can opt into each semester, occasional workshops, and one-on-one consultations.
I’ve had students ask me, “Isn’t this mainly for people in humanities?”Absolutely not! Our consultants are from humanities, social sciences, and STEM fields; as the coordinator, I do my best to pair students with a consultant within their discipline or a closely related one.
When they’re not experts in your subject matter, consultants act as “expert outsiders”: experts in writingwho can offer a fresh perspective, ensuring that you’re communicating clearly to an outside audience.* They are trained in what questions to ask and what concerns to look for.
“That’s great and all, but what if I’m a remote or online student?” Technology is a beautiful thing! We offer remote consultations through platforms like Skype and Zoom. Phone appointments are also an option. We want to cater to as many graduate students as possible!
Our approaches to Consultations
When we meet with you one-on-one, we aim to create meaningful writing experiences by using a variety of best practices. I’ve listed a few of our priorities below. (And just so you don’t have to take my word for it, I’ve included real student evaluations from our feedback surveys.)
We dedicate ample time to written and verbal feedback. We know that graduate level writing is complex and often long. (Those dissertation chapters are no joke!) Our consultants spend one to two hours with your project before your appointment to compile thoughtful written comments. This makes your one-hour in person (or online) meetings far more focused and productive.
“[The consultant] had gone over my document before we met and had great ideas for rearranging the structure of it. But she also listened to my concerns about it as we were meeting and adjusted feedback on the spot.” (May 2019)
We listen. Our goal is to help you say what youneed and want to say.
“[The consultant] addressed my concerns very specifically, and our discussion in which I bounced around different ideas was very helpful. She was a good sounding board.” (December 2018)
“I appreciated how unbiased the consultant was; even though he personally disagreed with my argument, was still helpful and thoughtful. As someone who is terrible at objectivity, I appreciated that.” (December 2018)
“[The consultant] had great and helpful feedback! She was willing to listen to what I needed and tailor her comments to my concerns (i.e., project organization or sentence level issues depending on the stage of the project.)” (December 2018)
We help students develop long-term writing strategies while working with assignments. Much of our time is aimed at improving individual assignments sent our way: we discuss argument, content, sentence flow, wording, and more. However, we also use those as opportunities to teach clients strategies and tools to help them in future writing projects.
“[My consultant] is amazing! She takes the time to teach me writing skills…[S]he doesn’t just help me correct mistakes. I have learned so much from her this year.” (May 2019)
We see our student colleagues first and foremost as people, not assignments.Sometimes what you need in graduate school is encouragement. Our consultants speak not only from a place of expertise but also from a place of understanding. We have been and currently are experiencing the demands of academia right alongside you. You can be sure we’re rooting for you.
“Encouraging and constructive feedback that was sufficiently detailed without feeling overwhelming.” (December 2018)
In using these approaches, it’s my hope that you walk away with a stronger paper and clarity about recommended revisions and future projects.
Finally, I want to correct two common misconceptions about the Graduate Writing Center:
- “GWC consultants are proofreaders.” We believe our most helpful resource is our consultants’ position as writing experts or “expert outsiders.” We want your time with the consultant to be spent talking through what we call “higher order concerns” – things like argument, structure, flow, and clarity—rather than punctuation or formatting. We are not proofreaders and therefore we do not dedicate appointments to merely editing papers or checking formatting. We will never correct a paper and send it back without a meeting. Almost anyone can double-check the use of italics or commas, but we value our consultants’ writing and content expertise and hope you will, too!
- “GWC consultants will perfect my paper.”We can’t guarantee perfection. (Wouldn’t that be grand if we could?!) From applications to class assignments, there are many factors that go into a project’s evaluation that are beyond our control. However, our consultants aim to get to know the project’s audience and context beforeproviding feedback to help you craft a document that is clearer, more readable, better organized, etc.
I hope you’ll give us the opportunity to work with you on your upcoming projects. Send me an email at gwc@baylor.eduwith your document and main concerns, and you’ll have taken your first step towards what I hope will be an encouraging and helpful consultation!
*Adler-Kassner, Linda and Elizabeth Wardle, eds. Naming What We Know: Threshold Concepts of Writing. UP of Colorado, 2016.
Resources:
For more writing tips, consider attending our panel on October 22nd, The Art and Science of Writing: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-art-and-science-of-writing-tickets-75886272885
Check us out online: