Current Students

Writing Assistants

The Peer Writing Assistant Program focuses on helping students to develop and improve their academic skills. Appointments are available to all students at UNSW enrolled in an award program.

• Who are Writing Assistants?
• Background
• Who do Writing Assistants work with?
• What can Writing Assistants help with?
• How can I make an appointment?

Who are Writing Assistants?

Writing Assistants are peers or graduate students who are chosen because of their broad experience with academic skills. They work as ‘critical readers’ of your work, not as lecturers or tutors.

Writing Assistants meet individually with writers in The Learning Centre for 50-minute appointments to attend to that particular writer's concerns. They help individual students become better writers, to learn how to use the conventions, the rules, and the processes of writing. Writing Assistants help individual students with the development of ideas, the organisation of papers, clarity and style, sentence structure and grammar, and punctuation and spelling.

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Background

The PWA program at The Learning Centre began in 2nd Semester 1997.

The first group of Writing Assistants were selected as a result of collaboration with various Faculties across campus. This co-operation ensures the vitality of postgraduate life at the university and also ensures that postgraduates get hands-on experience as academic mentors working with individuals and with groups.

The PWA program is based on the principle of collaborative learning in which a more experienced student helps out another student in any area of generic academic skills. The program focuses on how we do things, rather than any course content.

Who do Writing Assistants work with?

Students who want to improve their writing skills and are enrolled at UNSW in an award program.

The students who visit The Learning Centre may come in only a few times for specific assistance or on a regular basis. Some students seek help on their own, others appear at the recommendation of academic staff, and in some cases, are referred by other support services within the university.

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What can Writing Assistants help with?

Writing Assistants can help students:

• improve the structure of written assignments
• read more critically and identify relevant information
• develop arguments in writing
• organise ideas
• improve their command of sentence structure

Writing Assistants do not evaluate students' work, lecture at them or tutor them. Writing Assistants may engage writers in discussions of their topics so that writers can develop their ideas and practice the phrasing and vocabulary of the kinds of discourses they may be writing.

The role of the Writing Assistant is to work as a friendly audience who will respond to the piece of work being looked at. For help with specific subject content, students should see a lecturer or tutor.

Writing Assistants do not proof-read, edit or correct students' work. Their role is that of an interested and inquisitive reader, listening closely, asking questions for clarification, and actively responding to the student's ideas. They may not look at every sentence or every page.

Writing Assistants:

• offer feedback on developing drafts of papers
• suggest writing strategies
• ask questions
• help students review misunderstood or missing information
• listen to student writers, and help them gain a perspective on their writing.

How can I make an appointment?

Students can make appointments online, using our Consultation Booking System. CoFA students can also book online.

• Further information about appointments

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