Consultation Options
This page highlights the many different ways the Writing Center can help you.
Writing Center services for Spring session (May 4 - June 18)
The Writing Center is open virtually to support you during spring and summer sessions!
You can receive support by sharing a Google Doc with [email protected] or by speaking with a Knowledge Market receptionist via Google Meet: https://www.gvsu.edu/library/km/dropin
Daytime: Monday-Thursday 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. (appointments available between 2 - 4 p.m. if made 24 hours in advance)
Evening: Monday-Wednesday 8 p.m. - 10 p.m.
You can also receive feedback via our email service by filling out our web form. We aim to provide feedback within 72 hours of submission.
For scheduled appointments, your consultant will email you when your session is scheduled to begin. The email will have an invitation to join the consultant in a Google Meet room so you can begin working.
If you have any issues, questions, or concerns, please contact the Writing Center Director (Patrick Johnson - [email protected]).
We look forward to working with you!
How Can I Meet with a Consultant?
One-on-One
Writing Consultants are trained to facilitate conversation about your writing at any stage of the process.
Here are just some ways consultants can assist:
- Brainstorming ideas
- Organizing content
- Proofreading drafts
- Argumentation
- Storytelling
- "Talking it out"
- Formatting concerns
- Proper citation
You can either Drop-In at any of our locations during business hours, or you can schedule an Appointment ahead of time.
In Class
Consultants are trained to be able to support writers in classroom settings.
Classrooms use consultants in these ways & more:
- One-on-one conversation & Small group settings
- Time management skills
- Brainstorming topics
- Proofreading
- Citation support
- Research strategies
Online
We understand that technology demands adaptability and the Writing Center aims to provide services that meet the needs of all students, staff, and faculty at GVSU. As such, the Writing Center offers a variety of online options, in addition to face-to-face locations.
Google Doc Consultations are available to all GVSU students and recreates the face-to-face consultation online. Students can receive feedback from a consultant via Google Docs by sharing drafts with [email protected]. This will allow synchronous feedback with a consultant through the Google Docs chat feature and document sharing abilities. We provide this service on Mondays-Wednesdays @ 8 p.m.- 12am. Click here for a step-by-step walkthrough on using Google Docs.
Email consultations are available for students who don't have access to face-to-face services, which include students taking online classes, students from Traverse City, Holland, or Muskegon campuses, study abroad students, and graduate students. Students who are taking hybrid courses, which have online and face-to-face coursework, should contact the writing center about access. All students are limited to one email submission at a time. Please allow 72 hours for responses.
Click here for more information about email consultations
Virtual Knowledge Market officially opens Fall 2020 and will provide online support for writing, research, and speech during all Knowledge Market hours of operation. Online writing support will be available during all Writing Center hours. For Winter 2020, the Virtual Knowledge Market is being piloted for select student populations that struggle to access physical locations. Please contact the Writing Center ((616)331-2922) if you have questions about accessing pilot services.
What Qualifies for a Consultation?
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Feel free to get a consultation with a Writing Consultant if you... |
What could this look like? |
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are writing, plan on writing, or have just finished a draft of writing. |
Organizing content, improving clarity, brainstorming topics, conducting research, polishing mechanics and syntactic grammar, etc. |
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are an expert writer, experienced, inexperienced, or unsure of where you stand as a writer. |
Consultants are here to be a peer for you to talk to, whether that means sharing in your expertise and offering another perspective or sharing wisdom and advice for becoming an expert writer. |
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speak English as your native language or are learning English as an additional language. |
All consultants receive training in effectively supporting multi-lingual writers with their experience in writing in English at an academic level. |
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are writing a term paper, a novel, a letter home to your family, or a resume for a potential job. |
All consultants receive training in multiple writing-genres, and they regularly update our many helpful handouts on all kinds of writing-related issues, concerns, and topics. |
Click here to find out what a typical one-on-one consultation is like.
Have other questions? Stop in and visit! Or call us at 331-2922.