If this is your first time making an appointment, please read about our writing appointments and our policies below before booking your appointment. Please note that extended time consultations are reserved for students with accommodations.
We offer 45-minute writing appointments to undergraduate and graduate students at UT Austin (if you are in an Option 3 graduate program, find out more below).
About Writing Appointments
The UWC can help students…
From any major or department
With any writing project
At any stage in the writing process
At any point in their college career
Writers of all abilities come here to do what professional writers do: get another person’s response to their writing. Our mission is to help UT Austin students become more proficient, more versatile, and more confident in their writing abilities
The UWC can assist you at any point in the writing process, from brainstorming to final revisions. We can work with academic writing, personal statements and other non-course related projects. We use a non-directive, non-evaluative approach to writing consulting. This means we focus on having a conversation about your work and your writing goals.
Our consultants are UT undergraduate and graduate students. They have been trained to help you think critically about your writing task, identify your options, and make your own decisions about your writing. If you want to work on grammar, they will help you identify the kinds of errors you make and teach you how to apply the rules of Edited Academic English.
We strive to make the UWC a supportive place for everyone to develop their writing. The training our consultants participate in is designed to develop respect for different linguistic, cultural, racial, and economic backgrounds, as well as different abilities and gender identities. We also offer a variety of accommodations to make the UWC accessible to all. If you’re a UT student, we want you to feel welcome here.
What to bring
To prepare for your appointment, please bring your prompt and any work that you have on your writing project. If you have received feedback from your instructor(s), you are welcome to bring that as well.
If you’re coming for an in-person writing appointment, you may bring your paper in whatever form you wish, including on your own computer. We also have Macs at the UWC that you can use to pull up your paper if it is saved to a cloud service. To maintain social distancing, we will be using Google Hangouts Meet in our in-person consultations to allow you to share your writing with your consultant via screen sharing. If you bring in a paper copy of your writing, we ask that you bring a second copy for the consultant.
Want to meet with a specialist?
We offer various specialties through our online booking system. For both undergrads and grads, we offer Spanish writing consultations. For undergrads, we offer health professions application essay consultations, consultations for specific engineering classes, and a designated consultant for several AFR classes. Choose one of these appointment types when booking in order to see our specialists in each area.
If you would like to schedule an appointment with a consultant specializing in a specific genre or discipline not listed on our appointment booking system, chat with us through the window above or call us at 512-471-6222.
Although our staff changes from semester to semester, we typically have specialists in:
- APA
- Business Writing
- Journalism
- Law
- Science Writing
- Technical Writing
- Creative Writing
- and other areas
Additional Support
Interested in other ways the UWC can support you? Head over to our How We Help page to find out about all the services available to you at the UWC.
Writing Appointment Policies
Punctuality and Cancellations
If you are more than
10
minutes late, your appointments will be cancelled and will be considered a no-show.
If you no show
5
appointments, you will need to speak with our admin team before making more appointments.
To cancel within
2
hours of your appointment, you will need to contact the front desk through chat or at (512) 471-6222.
For a project due in
2
hours or less, we will not be able to meet with you.
Please arrive a few minutes early for your appointment so you can fill out the intake form. In many cases we will be able to book you for another appointment later in the day if you are late to your original appointment.
Please give us as much notice as possible if you need to cancel your appointment. Cancelling at the last minute makes it difficult for other students to rebook the appointment time.
Our policy prevents us from seeing students with projects due in less than two hours, so please schedule your appointments accordingly with project deadlines in mind. We want there to be enough time to go through your paper in a relaxed, beneficial way during your appointment.
Number of appointments
Generally speaking, we’d like you to visit the UWC as often as you like.
We recommend no more than
3
visits per assignment for papers less than 10 pages. This limit helps you retain your independence as a writer and promotes academic integrity.
You can have no more than
4
appointments on the schedule at any given time. If you run into this limit, simply allow one of the appointments you have scheduled to pass before booking another.
At certain points in the semester, demand for our services outpaces supply. If you use our services more frequently than most people, we may contact you at that time to temporarily limit the number of consultations you can have. This is not meant as a punishment—we simply need to ensure that all UT students have equal access to our services.
Group work policies
You are welcome to come to the UWC with a group writing assignment. However, all authors must be present to work on each section. If you divided up the work for the project and each wrote independently, you can come in alone and work on only your section. If the entire paper was written collaboratively, all the writers need to be there to work on any part of the paper. Only one group member needs to book the actual appointment, but all need to attend.
Students who can book writing appointments
We offer writing appointments to all undergraduate students and most graduate students with the exception of Option 3 graduate students. Students need to be currently enrolled at UT Austin or enrolled in the previous semester in order to use our services.
We can work with Option 3 graduate students if their programs have set up a payment agreement with us. If you wish to use our services, please contact your Option 3 program director, who can reach out to us.
We do not work with OnRamps of UT Extension students at this time.
Online Writing Appointments
The UWC will be conducting undergraduate and graduate appointments both online and in person. Online appointments are conducted through Zoom.
In order to use Zoom, you need to use your UT Zoom account. All UT students have access to a free utexas Zoom account through UT. If you haven’t already activated your account, you can create your account here.
You are welcome to meet with your consultant using your desktop, laptop, or smartphone. If you plan to use a smartphone, you’ll need to download the free Zoom app.
You will still book your appointments the same way using the link at the end of this page. When booking the appointment, make sure you choose “online/remote” as the appointment type.
We will send you instructions via email 10-15 minutes before your appointment about how to connect with your consultant.
If you have any questions, please use our website chat to contact us.
FAQs
How can the UWC help me?
Our mission is to help UT Austin students become more proficient, more versatile, and more confident in their writing abilities
The UWC can assist you at any point in the writing process, from brainstorming to final revisions. We can work with any kind of writing, including personal statements and other non-course related projects.
We use a non-directive, non-evaluative approach to writing consulting. This means we focus on having a conversation about your work and your writing goals. We do not edit, proofread, or rewrite papers.
What should I bring to my in-person appointment?
Please bring your prompt and any work that you have on you writing project. We do not need a paper copy of your writing.
You may bring your own computer or use a Mac at the UWC.
Why am I seeing “no available counselors” when I try to book an appointment?
You may have applied a filter that’s hiding the available appointments. If you are trying to filter by location, make sure you choose University Writing Center for in-person appointments and University Writing Center Online through Google Meet for online appointments. Any other location in the drop-down list is for other advising offices on campus who use the same booking system. If you’re still having trouble, be sure to chat the front desk!
Why did I get a Zoom invitation when my appointment is in-person?
We still use Zoom for our in-person consultations to allow you to share your screen with your consultant.
Where can I check to see if I made an in-person or online appointment?
You can either check the confirmation email you received upon booking the appointment or log back into Symplicity to view the appointment details. In-person appointments will have the location “University Writing Center” and online appointments have the location “University Writing Center Online through Zoom” (Note: All graduate student appointments are online). If you’re still unsure, feel free to ask the front desk.
What happens if I am late or miss an appointment?
If you are more than 10 minutes late, we will not be able to start your appointment and it will be considered a no show. However, in many cases we will be able to book you for another appointment later in the day if you are late to your original appointment. If you no show 5 appointments in the same semester, you will need to speak with our admin team before booking future appointments.
Is the UWC accessible? What kinds of accommodations do you offer?
Yes, our goal is to help students grow as writers. We want to be supportive of all writers. For more information on our accommodations, visit our Accessibility page.
Do you work with UT Extension or OnRamps students?
Not at this time.
I am in an Option 3 grad program. Can I use the UWC?
We can work with Option 3 students if their programs have set up a payment agreement with us. If you wish to use our services, please contact your Option 3 program director, who can reach out to us.