We offer writing consultations for free to all students at TU Dresden. In an individual conversation, our trained tutors will talk to you about all aspects of your current writing project (thesis, term paper, project work…).

And we would like to emphasise: Writing consultation is not only aimed at those who are facing acute difficulties and do not know how to proceed, who have got bogged down or tangled. We see it as an advantage to discuss one's own text with others in the writing process, and an outside view of working strategies or text drafts can be enormously helpful. Use the writing consultation to share your thoughts, sort them out or develop them further - Writing does not have to be a solitary affair ;-) !

Please don’t hesitate to contact us at .

© Grit Milisch/SZD

You will be advised by the trained Writing Peer Tutors of the TU Dresden Writing Center. You can find an overview of the team and further information about the individual persons on our team page.

If you are wondering what writing tutors are doing, you can watch the video (YouTube) from the writing peer tutoring conference 2017 here (Video only available in German).

That's no problem at all. The tutors are trained to help you find solutions on your own. The fact that they are not from the same discipline as you has the advantage of giving you a new perspective on your writing project. You will probably have to explain aspects of your writing project in more detail or in a simplified way, so that new thoughts, ideas and perspectives will automatically open up to you.

And as described under "Does the writing consultation replace consultations with teachers?" Your teachers are there to help you with discipline-specific questions.

• Are you fighting the empty page?
• You want to start but just don’t know how?
• You are not satisfied with your structure?
• You are unsure on how to limit your topic and where to find suitable literature?
• You have to hand in your paper shortly, but you can’t shake the feeling that you’re missing something, and you won’t make it on time?
• You don’t know how to structure your paper?
• You feel like your text is not scientific enough?
• Are you looking for that last something to make your sentences better?
• You don’t know how to motivate yourself to write?
• You just want to talk to someone about your writing project and get all your worries and doubts off your heart?

These and other questions about planning, writing, and correcting your text can be topics of a writing consultation. We will help you finding out how you can progress your writing. Furthermore, you can receive constructive feedback on parts of your text, please read the FAQ on text feedback to find out more.

And maybe you already know this, but: When you talk about your thoughts, you are already giving them a structure and it’ easier to come to new conclusions. That it what we are hoping for in a writing consultation.

Depending on the topic you are talking about, up to 60 minutes. You can come to the writing consultation several times.

No, writing consultations do not replace consultations with you lecturers, but they widen your perspective. During a writing consultation, there is more time to talk about your writing project, and with our tutors being students, it is usually easier to ask questions or talk about difficulties.

Field specific aspects or criteria of grading can only be talked about with your lecturer. But we can help you prepare for your consultation, for example by preparing a list of questions, so you can use your time with the lecturer more efficiently.

You are not sure whether your question is in the right place or whether you should talk to your teacher about it? Just come to us first and we will find out together.

You can prepare for the meeting, but you don’t have to. Just come with all your questions, doubts and thoughts – if there is no rhyme or reason to them, we will sort them together.

If you already wrote something and you want to talk about a specific part of your text or your structure, then let us know at least 48 hours in advance so the tutor can prepare. You can send us up to three pages of your text or bring it printed with you.

We use BigBlueButton for the online writing consultations. As by now we are all so used to working in online settings, we don't need to say much more about it at this point. We make sure to create a pleasant atmosphere online and look forward to seeing you on screen.

We can give you a feedback on specific parts of your text. This does no include editorial or proofreading services. The aim of a feedback is to give a constructive critique on your text, so that you can use the information gained during the writing consultation to continue working on your text. In example corrections, the focus could be to look for reoccurring language mistakes and then to help you with the correction.

Maybe you already have a certain idea on what you would like feedback. That can be your style, the structure of the text or your argumentation. You can tell us your wishes via email. If you’re not sure, you can get an “overall” feedback on your text from the writing tutor, they will talk about any aspect that they noticed.

Please note that we do not provide feedback on non-academic texts like CVs, applications or email-correspondance. If you are interested in the latter, please seek other support centers like the Career Service.

For the feedback, please send us your text at least 48 hours before your appointment. You can send us up to three pages. If you already have a structure, a title or a research question, please send them to us as well. If you don’t have any of these, please describe in 3 to 5 short sentences in which direction you plan to take your research. This way, we can understand your text better.

If possible, bring your text to your appointment printed out or on your computer.

You can also come to a writing consultation to receive spontaneous feedback. Please bring your text printed out or on your computer as well.

When sending your text to our email address , please address it to the Writing Center and set the subject to “Text feedback + your date of the appointment”. We will forward your text confidentially to the writing tutor responsible.

We are looking forward to seeing you!