Writing Clinic Guidelines

About the ELI Writing Clinic

The ELI Writing Clinic is designed to provide U-M graduate students with short-term coaching on specific aspects of their academic writing. For this reason, participation in the clinic cannot replace ELI courses. No academic credit is awarded for  Writing Clinic participation.

Note: ELI Writing Clinic is not an editing service. The purpose of Clinic sessions is not to provide copy-editing, but to work on organization, flow of ideas, and other macro writing issues, and to help you identify and learn to self-correct your own texts. No credit is awarded for the Writing Clinic.  

Please read the guidelines carefully and then click the button below sign up.

Guidelines

1. Writing Clinic appointments are scheduled for 45 minutes.
2. Graduate students may sign up for one Writing Clinic appointment per week for up to a maximum of six (6) total sessions per semester.*
3. Non-students (Visiting scholars, researchers, faculty, postdocs) may sign up for one (1) session per semester.*
4. New appointment slots will be available one week in advance.
5. If you need to cancel an appointment, you must do so at least 20 hours before the appointment time.
6. If you try to cancel later or do not show up for an appointment, this counts as a no-show.
7. If you have two no-shows in a given semester, you will not be allowed to sign up for any more appointments in that semester. 
8. If no appointments are available, you can add your name to a waitlist. If there is a cancellation, you will receive an email that the appointment is available. If you don't attend, this will count as a no-show. 
9. You must complete a short online evaluation form at the end of each session.
10. All writing clinic sessions take place online, via WCOnline.  Go to the same page you signed up at for the appointment.  You will see instructions there.

*Why so few times in a semester? Many, many students are in line for clinic appointments, so we want to make sure that as many as possible can benefit from this service. 

The Writing Clinic is NOT a substitute for an ELI course. If you are a graduate student and feel you need more help than you can obtain in 6 clinic sessions, you should consider a course such as ELI 521, 522, 620, or 621.  

ELI also offers academic English courses for visiting scholars, faculty, staff, researchers, and post-docs. 

Requirements for Documents Brought to the Clinic:

• All documents must be your own work (co-written documents are okay, but not someone else's documents).
• All documents must be printed at least double-spaced. Having your document printed in a single column is preferable to multiple columns.
• Either double-sided or single-sided printing is okay. Bringing print-outs of your figures and tables is often useful.
• Bring only what you think is feasible to work through in the allotted time period (i.e., don't print out your entire thesis or dissertation to bring to the clinic).

Tips for success:

• Keep a record of feedback from your Writing Clinic instructors.
• Before each session, think about what you would like to focus on so that you can make the most of your time.
• Ask for help on particular sections of your paper or on particular questions you have about writing or language.
• Give your Clinic instructors feedback: Let them know what you find most helpful/useful.