Writers love the Writers Workshop! In the last academic year, 98% of writers rated their sessions as “excellent” or “very good” in our anonymous post-session ratings. But why keep all the WW love behind the scenes?! We are pleased to share here endorsements for our various services. If you have a WW testimonial or endorsement you would like shared on our website or social media, you can send it here using this Google form. Of course, if you’d like to share a testimonial privately, please be sure to indicate that on the form. Other comments can be directed to wow@illinois.edu.
General testimonials
“I attended almost all the resources WW offers. I used in-person, live online, and written feedback appointment services more frequently. I cannot thank the writer’s workshop and the consultants more. Every consultant whom I worked with was very patient and thoughtful. I appreciate WW provides additional services to tailor different writers’ needs. For example, the live online appointment provided the writer the flexibility to balance other life obligations or school tasks that do not allow me to meet the consultant in person. Another example is the written feedback consultant not only offers me thoughtful feedback and writing resources, the hour of “appointment” allows me to take a writing break without feeling guilty. The most important part is WW and its consultants made me feel supported and don’t have to do this alone. Especially when I received positive feedback, it gave me the confidence to continue to improve my writing.” — Ning Ching Zulauf
Consultations
Live Online Sessions
“The Writers Workshop was so critical in me finishing my dissertation. I received the support and affirmation I needed to produce good work. The amazing scholars I worked with taught me how to edit my work so well that few edits were needed during the actual sessions. It made our work so efficient and pleasant.” — Charlotte Prieu
“This semester I met an incredible writing consultant, Hilary, who worked with me weekly on a book project. She helped me with every aspect of the project, from reviewing the book structure and chapter arguments to detailed revision of word choice and spelling. Her support was very important for me since I had never worked on a book before. Plus, she taught me a lot of interesting facts about English and writing, which was great since English is my second language and I don’t have a humanities background. I am very grateful for all her help and company this semester; it made a substantial difference in my experience as a writer.” — Claudia Grisales
“This was such a good experience I literally texted half a dozen people within five minutes of ending the zoom call to recommend it. I feel so much more confident in my essay and in my ability to get a good grade with this. I feel ready to submit it, rather than questioning every word as I typically do in the hours before submitting an essay. I will be back many times this semester and all of the following. Thank you so, so much.” — anonymous
“[My tutor] helped me navigate a genre of writing I was previously unfamiliar with this afternoon. We looked at examples of the genre to discuss how best to structure the one that I’ll be writing. She also did well to provide productive suggestions for how to move forward in my continued reading, research, and writing with this project over the next week. Very accommodating, a good listener, and helpful with suggestions and advice. Even when the genre or subject matter is out of her area of expertise, she does well both to engage with unfamiliar subject matter and to provide practical advice for next steps in writing.” — anonymous
“As an international student with no previous experience with academic English, starting a Ph.D. degree that was fully in English was incredibly daunting. I had to learn to review and write scientific articles in my third language, which was a terrifying experience. The Writers Workshop helped and empowered me since the first year in my degree to write class essays, onto writing my qualifying papers and first journal article! Now, as a graduated Ph.D., I want to thank all the work that WW does for the international student community, particularly to those in graduate school!” – anonymous
In-person Sessions
“[My tutor] and I have epic sessions where we talk about everything from the genesis of humanity to dreams to the use of mortal (or immortal) time. We also have really great conversations about my writing that always point me in new directions!” — anonymous
“[My tutor] was very inspirational and provided excellent guidance on the overall structure of my writing. He was very supportive of my ideas. When he saw problems in my arguments, he helped me lay out the context and let me discover the problem by myself. This is a lot more helpful than telling me straight out what I did wrong and I think I will learn more if I come up with my own mistakes. Keep the positive vibe!” — anonymous
“[My tutor] was so helpful and insightful! She gave concrete suggestions and explained the reasons for them well. I could understand where here advice was coming from, so it will help me with future writing, not just this paper. I came in feeling very stressed about this assignment and left feeling confident and capable, which was a huge turnaround in less than an hour.” — anonymous