The Center for Writing & Rhetoric provides 2 free consultations every week for all CGU students, faculty, and staff. These 2 consultations can be a combination of in-person/online & email review or 2 in-person or online appointments. 2 email reviews in a single week are not allowed. We also provide dissertation boot camps, writing retreats, qualifying exam study weekends, a weeklong dissertation boot camp, writing fellows, writing groups, and more!
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In-Person Consulting
Meet at the CWR with one of our consultants for a 50 minute session. We believe that any writer, even a professional, can benefit from sharing drafts with a colleague. Although we won’t write your paper or guarantee you an “A,” we will work with you for the entire writing process, from brainstorming ideas for your paper, clarifying and organizing ideas, to polishing your style.
*In-Person Consulting is currently on hold due to the move to online learning. Online appointments are still available (see below).
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Online Consultation
Online appointments last 50 minutes and offer students the interaction of an in-person appointment.
Be sure to select “Yes – Meet Online” when you make your appointment. At the time of your appointment, log into our scheduler again. In the appointment window that appears, click the red “Start or Join Online Consultation.” You will be taken to a virtual whiteboard space where you can upload your paper and work with a writing center consultant.
Email Submission
Submit your paper online and receive comments from a Consultant. The online service is particularly helpful for global organizational and structural concerns. It is less helpful for sentence-by-sentence suggestions.
In our online appointment system, select the calendar labelled “Email Review” from the drop-down menu at the top just under the MyCGU logo. On that calendar, you can select any Consultant and upload your paper. (The time on the calendar does not matter; it is for administrative purposes only.)
We have made some changes to our guidelines for email submission to ensure that we continue to provide timely, high-quality feedback. The main changes are:
- We accept papers up to 35 pages in length. Papers up to 15 pages have a turnaround time of 3 business days, and papers of 16-35 pages have a turnaround time of 7 business days.
- Consultants in most cases are going to limit their grammatical feedback to 2 problems per paper. This feedback, like in the past, will be dedicated to the beginning of papers and corrections made along with explanations of the grammatical rule. In this way, students remain responsible for self-correction over the rest of the paper.
If you have any questions about these changes, feel free to email us at write@cgu.edu.
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Dissertation Bootcamps & Writing Retreats
The Center facilitates Dissertation Bootcamps on the second weekend of every month during the regular academic year. At boot camp, dissertation writers commit all day Saturday and Sunday to focus on writing. We discuss strategies for setting realistic objectives, staying focused, and overcoming writer’s block. Coffee, tea, snacks, lunch, and a large dose of motivation provided. Writing Retreats are open to all students, last only Saturday, and follow the same structure as boot camps. You can sign up for both events two weeks before the event begins.
For more information on these and other post-coursework events, visit here.
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Resources
The CWR houses books and handouts on all aspects of the writing process, from developing a topic to proofreading. We also have style manuals, academic writing texts, and books on writing in the disciplines. All students are welcome to stop by our house at 141 E. 12th Street to use the Resource Library.
* In-person use of our resource library is currently on hold.
Online resources are available here.
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Courses
The CWR offers courses to help students improve their writing and presenting skills. These courses are offered S/U, do not count toward your degree, and are offered at a discounted rate. For more information on the courses we offer, visit here.
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Writing Fellows Program
Through this program, Writing Consultants work with course instructors to offer writing instruction in parallel with the subject matter of CGU courses. The Writing Fellows program is one of the ways the CGU Center for Writing & Rhetoric takes an active approach to writing instruction by reaching students collectively rather than individually through teaching the steps of the writing process integrated with departmental course offerings.
More information on our Writing Fellows is available here.