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Who We Serve
Sweetland's writing support services serve currently-enrolled, University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) graduate students.
International graduate students: If you are an international or multilingual graduate student who would prefer to meet with a second language specialist, you can schedule an appointment with the English Language Institute's Speaking and Writing Studio.
Faculty, Staff, and Post-docs: We do not provide writing support for these U-M communities.
Accessibility
If you have extended-time accommodations through Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD), visit our Accessibility page for information about how to request extended-time accommodations for your appointment and information about resources already available to you.
You can find detailed information about the physical, sensory, and navigability features of Writing Workshop on the Accessibility page.
Appointment and Scheduling Limits
You may schedule two 30-minute appointments or one 60-minute appointment per week in the Writing Workshop. These limits allow us to meet with as many students as we can each term. Appointments can be scheduled up to seven calendar days in advance.
If you have extended-time accommodations through Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD), you are alotted 120 minutes of appointment time at Writing Workshop in 30-minute or 60-minute increments. Visit our Accessibility page for information about how to request accommodations for your appointment.
What to Bring With You
- Reasonable expectations: What one or two issues in your piece of writing would you like to discuss with the writing consultant? If you have a really long paper, on what part or parts would you like to focus?
- Your assignment sheet, writing prompt, and any guidelines or rubrics you’ve been given.
- Ideas about or a draft of your writing project in electronic or hard copy.
When You Arrive
For In-Person Appointments
You will be utilizing self check-in when you arrive for your appointment. After completing your self check-in, have a seat in the lobby, and your consultant come get you.
For Online Appointments
Please turn on your cameras and microphones for your online appointments. These are intended to mirror our in-person appointments as much as possible, and therefore rely on direct dialogue. We understand that extenuating circumstances may make it impossible to turn on your camera; if that is the case, please inform your consultant and you can have a discussion about possibly rescheduling the appointment.
Late Arrivals
Arriving on time ensures that you and the consultant will have ample time to discuss your writing. If you are 10 minutes late, you will lose your appointment.
What Happens at Your Consultation
- Most sessions begin with a brief discussion of what you're working on and the kind of help you're looking for.
- Come prepared to participate in an active collaboration with your consultant -- for example, by asking and answering questions, reading through the paper aloud, generating ideas, making notes on your own draft, etc.
- An effective session will often focus on global concerns (e.g., thesis, ideas, evidence, organization) before addressing local concerns such as grammar and punctuation. Prioritizing global concerns assures that you won’t spend time fixing sentences that might not even support your aim for the paper.
- While consultants are happy to work with you on your local grammatical and mechanical concerns, we avoid proofreading or "correcting" papers. We can help you identify patterns of error, proofread more effectively, and improve clarity and style. If you’re ready to address local concerns, expect to focus on one or two concerns per consultation.
If for any reason you need to modify or cancel an appointment, try to let us know at least 90 minutes prior to the appointment time. This allows Sweetland to assist as many writers as possible. Thank you for your courtesy to our consultants and your fellow writers!
How to Reschedule or Cancel Appointments
- Visit the Writing Workshop schedule.
- Select the schedule from the drop-down menu on which you made your initial reservation.
- Navigate to the date on which your appointment was scheduled.
- Click on the orange box, which opens your reservation panel.
- If you need to make a change, edit the panel as necessary. Click “Save Changes.” If you need to cancel the appointment, select the "cancel" box at the bottom of the page. Then click "Save Changes."
- You will receive an email notification confirming the action.
What if Sweetland needs to cancel my appointment?
If the Sweetland Center for Writing needs to cancel your appointment due to consultant illness, you will be notified by email as soon as possible. We will make every effort to reschedule the appointment with another consultant for the same time before canceling an appointment.
Missed Appointments
If you miss an appointment, you will be unable to schedule another appointment for one week. You will be notified via email when this occurs. Although you won’t be able to make an appointment, you are still welcome to use Sweetland’s walk-in services. If you miss two appointments, you will be unable to schedule an appointment for the remainder of the semester; however, you may continue to use our services on a walk-in basis. These policies help us serve as many students as possible each semester.
Loss of Power/Internet Connectivity
In the event you or the consultant lose power or internet connectivity during your online appointment, please attempt to reconnect to the appointment, as long as there is time remaining in your original appointment time slot. If reconnecting fails, your session will end at that time and you will be able to reschedule.
Please email sweetlandww@umich.edu to notify Sweetland's Writing Workshop Coordinator that your appointment was disconnected prematurely due to power or internet connectivity issues and that you would like to schedule another appointment.
You'll receive a response as soon as possible letting you know you may schedule another appointment that same week.
