Writing Consultations for Students

In an open, confidential 1:1 meeting, you can talk freely about your writing and/or your writing project.

• We support writers at every experience level: whether you’re preparing for your first term paper or already working on your final thesis.
• Are you an international student? No problem! We offer guidance in both German and English.
• Do you need specific conditions to feel comfortable in the conversation? As a diversity-sensitive writing center we’re happy to adapt to your individual situation

No good text is created in isolation. In conversation with us…

• you can tidy up and organize your thoughts

• you’ll find a space for your own ideas, open questions, or uncertainties about your writing

• you’ll gain an outside perspective, which can spark new impulses for your writing project

We mediate between different perspectives and support offers for your writing.

• We’ll support you with any questions or uncertainties you might have regarding your supervisors by helping you prepare for consultations.

• We’re familiar with the “advice jungle” at TU Dresden. If your concern doesn’t quite fit into our services, we have the right contacts to share.

• Other helpful resources include the SLUB, the Psychological Counseling Service (PSB), or your program advisors.

We understand the intense pressure and emotional challenges that academic writing projects can involve.

• We respond empathetically to individual concerns

• We take fears and worries seriously

• We are compassionate listeners

We offer you well-founded expertise in academic thinking, writing, and reading.

• We help you plan and manage your own writing process

• If needed, you can get text feedback on a section of your writing

• We have an extensive resource library and can recommend literature, handouts, or websites if you’d like

© 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.

• You want to start but just don’t know how?
• You are not satisfied with your structure?
• Are you fighting the empty page?
• You are unsure on how to limit your topic and where to find suitable literature?
• Do you want to work systematically on your time management for your writing projects (and beyond)?
• Do you want to discuss your writing project with someone outside your academic field to help organize your thoughts and ideas?
• 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 feel like your text is not scientific enough?
• You just want to talk to someone about your writing project and get all your worries and doubts off your heart?
• You don’t know how to motivate yourself to write?

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 will give you feedback on excerpts of your work. However, this does not include editing or proofreading. The aim of the feedback session is to give you constructive and critical feedback on individual areas of your text so that you can continue to apply the information you have received and the methods we have worked out together to your work after the writing consultation. Sample corrections can be about finding common linguistic errors and helping you to correct them systematically.

Perhaps you have a very specific request as to what exactly you would like to receive feedback on. This could be, for example, the expression, the structure of the text or the argumentation. Then you are welcome to express your wishes by e-mail. If you would like to receive feedback on your text "just because", we will give you feedback on the aspects that particularly catch our eye.

In addition to feedback on a specific part of the text, text feedback can always lead to a more general exchange about the aim and structure of the text, which ideally facilitates further work on the text beyond the consultation.

Please note that we do not give feedback on non-academic texts such as applications or e-mail correspondence. If necessary, please contact other contact points, such as the Career Service.

If you would like feedback, , register for a regular writing consultation at OPAL. If possible, register for an appointment in good time (no less than 48 hours before the appointment) so that we have enough time to read your text.

As soon as you have registered, we will contact you promptly by e-mail so that you can send us your text excerpt of up to five pages. If you have already developed an outline and a title or research question, you can also send these to us. If these are not yet available, please describe in three to five sentences the direction your work should take. This will make your text excerpts easier for us to understand.

You can also bring your text to the writing consultation spontaneously. Spontaneous feedback can also be helpful, even if it is different from prepared text feedback.

We look forward to hearing from you!