An initiative of the Princeton Writing Program, the Writing Center offers student writers free, one-on-one conferences with experienced fellow writers trained to consult on assignments in any discipline.
Overview
An initiative of the Princeton Writing Program, the Writing Center offers student writers free, one-on-one conferences with experienced fellow writers trained to consult on assignments in any discipline.
Located in Whitman College, the Writing Center welcomes all Princeton students, including:
Writing Fellows can help with any part of the writing process, from getting started to developing a thesis, structuring an argument, or revising a draft. The goal of each conference is to teach writing strategies that will encourage students to become astute readers of their own writing. Although the Writing Center is not an editing or proofreading service, Fellows can help students learn strategies for improving sentences and checking mechanics.
Writing Center conferences complement, but do not replace, the relationships students have with their teachers and advisers.
How It Works
To see a Writing Center Fellow, you can either make an appointment in advance or stop by during drop-in hours. Come with whatever you've got—an assignment, ideas, rough notes, a first or final draft, even a graded paper.
Conferences take place at the Writing Center in Whitman College.
Map to the Writing Center
Online scheduler for available appointments
Regular 50-minute sessions.
Extended 80-minute sessions for undergraduates and graduate students working on research projects.
Drop-in hours
Sunday-Thursday evenings, 7-10 p.m., when classes are in session.
No appointment required. First come, first served.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you match me with a Writing Center Fellow who knows about my topic?
Rather than offer the discipline-based help you can get from your advisers, professors, or preceptors, Writing Center Fellows help you learn to articulate your ideas to a non-specialist reader. In general, the Writing Center does not match you with a Fellow according to your paper topic; no matter what the subject matter, our Fellows serve as sounding boards, careful readers, and helpful critics. 
However: if you're a junior, senior, or graduate student working on a research project, you may sign up for extended appointments with a Writing Center Fellow in your field or neighboring discipline.
Can the Writing Center Fellow read my paper before the appointment?
The Writing Center does not accept papers in advance of appointments for two main reasons. First, we believe that you will become a better reader and reviser of your own work through the experience of articulating your writing concerns at the beginning of the conference. Your Writing Center Fellow can combine an understanding of those concerns with the perspective of a reader coming fresh to your paper, and then use both to help you think about possibilities for revision. Second, the Writing Center is a popular resource for writers of all levels of experience at Princeton. If Fellows read papers in advance, we wouldn't be able to serve as many people.
What should I expect when I come in for a writing conference?
The best beginning to a conference is when you, the writer, have some idea of the kind of help you would like. The Writing Center Fellow will ask how you would like to focus the session. He or she will also ask to see the assignment and to hear about or read any comments you have received on your writing from your professor or preceptor. You and the Fellow will then spend 5-15 minutes together reading the parts of the draft that you have both agreed to focus on.
The Writing Center Fellow will discuss your writing with you, which will frequently involve asking you more questions about your ideas and getting you to talk through problems arising in the draft. If you haven't yet written anything, the Fellow will help you brainstorm and organize ideas. You can expect to take copious 
notes. You will spend the last part of the session developing a plan for further writing and revision.
If you plan to consult a Writing Center Fellow about a take-home exam, you must bring written permission from your instructor to the conference.
Writing Center Staff
Writing Center Fellows are there to listen, suggest, diagnose, and advise. They serve as sounding boards, careful readers, and helpful critics, and are able to suggest possibilities implicit in a student's own thinking and writing. To find out who’s on the staff this year, select “Staff” from the menu on the left.