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The Writing Place is a free tutorial service for students currently enrolled in a Northwestern University School of Professional Studies class to provide extra help with writing assignments. Many students are at the earliest stages of researching a paper and seek help focusing a topic or developing a thesis. Others come in with a final draft and wish to have a perfectly clean paper. No matter the class or stage of the writing process, The Writing Place offers one-on-one advice and assistance from an experienced writer who can analyze the student's text and suggest improvements.
About appointments
Tutors hold appointments in The Writing Place office, which is located on the mezzanine level of the Schaffner Library, in Wieboldt Hall. During the regular academic year, appointments with a Writing Place tutor are available every half hour at the following times:
- Monday - Thursday: afternoons
- Saturday: online only
- Sunday: afternoons
If you need assistance outside of scheduled times, please email spswritingplace@northwestern.edu. Walk-in consultations are permitted, providing the tutor is available and unscheduled.
Scheduling tips
- Before making an appointment, you must first register online using your Northwestern e-mail address. This will become your Writing Place login.
- Feel free to make an hour-long appointment if you feel you need more time.
- When scheduling an appointment, be sure you have the correct schedule selected on the "choose a schedule" dropdown menu - "Chicago Campus Writing Place: Schaffner Library."
For specific questions about the Chicago Campus Writing Place, please e-mail spswritingplace@northwestern.edu
Online consultations
We know that writers are not always able to come to the Writing Place. If you are in an online master’s program or have difficulty making it to campus for an in-person appointment, you are welcome to arrange an online-based appointment.
Schedule an online consultation
Scheduling tips
- Before making an appointment, you must first register online using your Northwestern e-mail address. This will become your Writing Place login.
- Please select "Meet Online" from the dropdown menu option when making your appointment.
- Online consultations should be scheduled for 60 minutes.
At the time of your consultation log in to the appointment system and click on your meeting time. Follow the link to "Start or Join Online Consultation." Please have your document ready to share electronically with the tutor
Preparing for a Writing Place appointment
Writing Place appointments are most productive when the student seeks help on a specific assignment, draft, paper revision, grammatical problem, or structural question. Appropriate areas for consultation might include:
- Whether a paper draft matches an assignment
- How to select and include relevant examples to support an argument
- Whether the paragraph structure and internal order of a paper is effective
- Questions on specific punctuation, grammar or syntax rules
- Whether the scope of a paper is appropriate, too broad or too narrow
Students should bring with them all materials relevant to their specific goal for the session, such as the course syllabus, class notes, hand-outs, assignment sheets, workbooks, drafts or outlines.