Graduate Students
The Center for Excellence in Writing has proven to be a powerful resource for graduate students.
We provide individualized support for writers in four formats:
In–person: The heart of our services, come to 17 Norton and sit with one of our PhD consultants and talk about your writing.
Virtual: If coming to the center is inconvenient, you can schedule a Zoom appointment throughout the week, evenings and even Sundays!
Advanced read and meet: If you have a lengthy document you would like the consultant to review before your appointment, you can book the consultant for one hour of reading and then for an interactive appointment in which you can discuss your consultant's feedback and talk out revision plans. Talk with your consultant or email writing@buffalo.edu to set up this service.
Written feedback: If you are unable to meet with a consultant, either in person or virtually, we can provide asynchronous feedback on your draft. Please read the instructions carefully before accessing this service.
You are welcome to make up to three appointments per week!
Consultations
Feel free to come in with specific questions, for a brainstorming session, or to request feedback on a specific aspect of your work. While we may not have a consultant in your discipline, sometimes a thoughtful outside reader can provide you with a valuable perspective about the clarity of your work. There are times when just talking it out with a peer can help you unknot the inevitable tangles in your project.
We can help you with a wide variety of writing projects including:
Even though I had a rather difficult and exclusive topic, he took the time to understand necessary concepts in order to approach the essay."
The CEW helped me a lot in both my dissertation and drafts of my journal papers."
- Course papers
- Dissertations
- Theses
- Proposals
- Job application materials
- Conference Presentations
- Group Projects
- Journal articles
Many graduate students in the dissertation stage like to make ongoing, regular appointments with one or more of our PhD level consultants. The consultant becomes familiar with your project and can act as an accountability peer to keep you moving forward. In addition to feedback on writing, feel free to dialogue about your larger dissertation process including time management, focus, organization and more. Many of our PhD consultants are also in the dissertation stage and can relate and share strategies with you! The CEW administration can schedule regular appointments for you - reach out to writing@buffalo.edu or talk with us in the Center.
Writing Retreats
For graduate students working on dissertations and other large projects, the CEW hosts retreats to provide space, accountability, and community to help you make consistent forward progress toward your goals.
Retreats include 4 to 5 days of intensive work on your project, framed by discussion, goal setting and experience sharing. Participants report making surges of progress, breaking through obstacles, and finding newfound momentum in their writing projects. In person or Zoom formats available. Typically offered during spring, summer, and winter breaks.
Summer 2026 dissertation support schedule will be available soon. Join our listserv to get all the details an check back here as well!
I like the retreat for hearing the collective struggles and successes of the group. It makes me feel part of a community of writers.
I would participate in this every day until my dissertation was complete, if it was available.
Click here to subscribe to our Graduate Writing Support listserv to receive occasional emails about our various graduate writing and dissertation support programs and events.
Enter the listserv name "CEW-GRAD-WRITING-SUPPORT-LIST" in the box, then enter your UB email. If you are unsure whether or not you are already subscribed, email us at writing@buffalo.edu or check out the listserv FAQ page. You can also unsubscribe using the same subscription link above.
New service: Oral Communication Lab
You can now schedule individual and group appointments to practice and gain feedback in interviewing, presenting, English conversation and networking. These appointments are held on Fridays in 128 Capen and can be scheduled via Navigate. In addition, there will be various guest presentations and workshops.
Using the GSA editing service in conjunction with CEW consultations
Since CEW consultants are not copy-editors and our work with writers is interactive, we encourage you to use a combination of CEW consulting services and the Graduate Student Association's free copy-editing services.
The GSA can be used for straightforward copy-editing work that can be done outside of your presence. Working with a CEW consultant is best for planning revisions and making editorial changes that need to be discussed to make sure your meaning is preserved. The CEW may also help you with stylistic revisions to make your work easier and more pleasing for your audience to read.
If you need both levels of work, it is a great idea to use both GSA and CEW services. For example, you could get copy-editing out of the way before you meet with a CEW consultant. Or you could work with a CEW consultant first on revisions related to meaning and then send your draft out for copy-editing. CEW consultants can also help you to respond to revision suggestions made by the GSA copy-editor.
You can submit up to 50 pages at a time to the GSA. For full dissertations, students should plan to submit chapters individually and several months in advance of the deadline. Turnaround time for documents submitted to the GSA is roughly two weeks. The GSA also has a Live Chat feature in which you can speak to an editor for a quick copy-edit of a short document (300 words or less), or questions related to grammar and formatting.
Here is the link to access GSA copy-editing services:
https://ubgsaedit.wixsite.com/gsa-editorial
Write Through: Dissertation Inspiration!
Write Through: Dissertation Inspiration is an article series which tells the stories of all the unique ways UB alums have made their way through the dissertation journey - and in a timely fashion as well! Strategies abound!
Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently asked questions about our Graduate level writing and consultations services. If you can't find an answer to your question here, please reach out to us at writing@buffalo.edu.
We employ MA and PhD level consultants from a variety of disciplines. Our graduate consultants are successful writers in their disciplines and also may have coursework in composition pedagogy and/or experience teaching writing.
Please note: We employ both undergraduate and graduate level consultants. If you are a graduate student, be sure to select a consultant at the appropriate level (designated as M.A. or PhD.)
We may, but we may not. Because of their experience with writing instruction and focus on language, many of our consultants are from English. We are always looking to diversify our consultant pool, but it is impossible to represent every discipline. You should not expect that your consultant be an expert in your content area. Our consultants are, however, very good at helping you gain perspective on the writing process, evaluating and discussing the rhetorical elements of texts, providing thoughtful and sensitive readings of your work, as well as helping with stylistic and grammatical elements of texts. Sometimes it is not an expert that you need, just a thoughtful reader with whom to “talk it out.”
While we can look at an electronic version with you on your laptop, many consultants prefer working with a hard copy that can be easily viewed and that you can mark up during the session. So, if you can, bring a hard copy along with any specific questions or areas of concern. You will direct the agenda of the session.
Our sessions are generally around 45 minutes long, so there is only so much that can be covered in that time. If your paper is very long, decide which portion or portions you want to focus upon. You can schedule follow-up appointments as needed.
The CEW is a great place for international students because working one-to-one with a native speaker who understands the process of language acquisition is perhaps the most efficient way to grow as a writer. We also have multilingual, international writing consultants who understand your experience and the language learning journey. Improving proficiency in written English is a long process, so many international students choose to schedule regular, ongoing appointments. As an added benefit, working one-to-one with a native speaking peer gives you excellent conversational practice as well!
The CEW is not an editing service. The GSA has an editing service that is paid through your student fees. If that service does not meet you needs, you may want to consider hiring an editor for the final stages of your wriitng process. The CEW provides collaborative, one-to-one attention to your writing, for example when editorial changes might affect meaning that requires discussion. Sometimes a combination of consultations and a traditional editing service might be a good solution. The CEW does try to maintain a list of graduate students or recent PhD graduates who offer editing services on a freelance basis.