The UNLV Writing Center consultants are here to help you improve your paper as well as your overall writing skills. We work in collaborative, writer-focused sessions to identify and address gaps in ideas, problems in organization, grammatical errors, formatting conventions, and elements of style. Consultants will ask you to share any concerns you have about your paper so that they can provide you with the proper guidance and strategies to help you improve and feel more confident moving forward with your writing.
Because our goal is to help you, the writer, build skills and confidence, it may not be possible to get through your entire paper in a single session. Writers are able to schedule up to 3 synchronous consultations and up to 2 OWL submissions per week. One Quick Question may be submitted per day.
Types of Consultations
SYNCHRONOUS CONSULTATIONS
All synchronous consultations are live 45-minute, one-on-one or group consultations with one of our consultants. These sessions take the shape of a conversation with a consultant about your writing. Most typically, you will read portions of your work aloud, share your concerns, and discuss strategies for improvement and the next steps in your drafting process.
Our synchronous consultations can be used by any writer at any stage in the writing process and are most useful for:
- Brainstorming and early writing, if you don’t have a final draft
- Receiving verbal feedback about your specific questions and concerns
- Discussing grammar, formatting, and citations (APA, MLA, and others)
- Longer pieces of writing
ASYNCHRONOUS CONSULTATIONS
Asynchronous consultations include submissions to our Online Writing Lab (OWL) and Quick Questions service, through which a consultant gives written feedback on your writing.
The OWL is not a proofreading service, and consultants will not alter the writing itself. OWL consultants leave written comments based on your concerns and other issues they find in your writing. Our OWL may be most useful for:
- Once you have a final draft
- Assignments with a few days left to revise deadlines
- Receiving written feedback on general issues in your draft
- Shorter pieces of writing
Quick Questions are a way to get a fast answer to a brief, specific question about writing. Writers have used this service to ask questions about:
- Citation and Reference format
- Specific grammar issues like comma splices and subject/verb agreement
- Brief advice about genre conventions
Because of the limited size of our staff, the UNLV Writing Center is only open to students, staff, and faculty of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
"I really found the feedback useful. More than that, I feel like my consultant really cared about helping me improve my essay!"
Student