Testimonials

Lost, confused, and utterly new, I came to the writing hub during my first quarter at UCSD. I figured I knew how to write. I loved reading grammar books and reading biographies... but college is a whole new level. I didn't know how to think; I didn't know how to write a two sentence thesis. The Writing Hub caught me, as though I jumped out of a burning fire (my first-year insecurities) and they were the firemen with a blanket. Thank you, Writing Hub, for helping me over the smallest and largest parts of writing.
Katelyn Luu
English Literature major
Thurgood Marshall College
Class of 2022

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I have great experience with the Writing Hub each quarter. As an ERC student who was under the brutal "regime" of the MMW writing sequence, I was constantly being challenged to produce high quality academic writing through research, reasoning, proposal, etc. Either it is the initial stage of brainstorming a paper, or the final touch before the submittal date, writing hub tutors were able to pin point any issues of my writing, and gave out constructive writing critiques that helped me to further develop my papers and writing skills. I am proud to say that I have finished a 27 pages senior research proposal last quarter, with the help from the Writing Hub along the way! Thank you!
Mandy Huang
Urban Studies & Planning major
Eleanor Roosevelt College
Class of 2019

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The Writing Hub has helped me so much. Even if I did not have a thesis or essay ready, I was able to talk through my ideas and get rid of my writer’s block and confusion. Overall, this resource has been one of the best free resources on campus. It has helped strengthen my writing and it’s easy to navigate. One of my favorite experiences is when a tutor gave me so much encouragement and acknowledged my work when I was struggling to understand my big research paper; the tutors really help you and motivate you to work harder.
Vanessa Nguyen
Human Developmental Sciences major
Eleanor Roosevelt College
Class of 2022

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I would recommend the Writing Hub to other students because the tutors helped me cultivate my thinking for my personal statements for pharmacy schools. I was super proud of my writing at the end.
Janie Jeong
Biochemistry & Cell Biology major
Eleanor Roosevelt College
Class of 2019

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I never thought I would enjoy writing until I received help from the writing hub. Through peer advising, I was able to think from a different perspective and dive into a deeper analysis.
Joe Lee
Computer Science major
Earl Warren College
Class of 2021

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After having received a B- on my first essay for my HILD 1o writing course, I went to Writing Hub for help on my second essay. I scheduled an appointment online with a tutor who was a history major, and he guided me on how to write an A essay. I highly recommend Writing Hub to anyone who needs feedback and help on writing assignments. The tutor helps you based on where you are in the assignment (thesis, outline, rough draft), which can also help you overcome writer's block. The best part is that it is free!
Elanor Sievers
Biochemistry/Chemistry major
Thurgood Marshall College
Class of 2022

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I have never been a strong writer and I was struggling in my writing class. I went to the Writing Hub once and I continued to go there to get assistance because of how understanding and helpful all of the mentors were. In general, the Writing Hub has a great atmosphere, it is very welcoming. Thank you Writing Hub for all of the help!
Undeclared major
John Muir College
Class of 2022

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The Academic Writing Hub is a professional and free resource for all UCSD students to access. The friendly and bright student staff members tremendously helped me with my upper-division writing course. By analyzing my main topics, thesis, and organization of information, they provided the advice I needed to succeed as one of the top students in my class. The amount of staff and their hours of availability also makes the process of scheduling an appointment quick and easy. I would recommend all students to use this resource for any type of writing. Not only do they provide assistance for essays, but they also provide assistance for research papers, summaries, descriptions, etc. My writing skills have only improved since scheduling an appointment with them.
Neurobiology major
Earl Warren College
Class of 2020

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Writing hub is a place where you can share ideas, talk through various writing topics and styles with skilled writers. Especially the ones who are the same college as you, writing hub tutors can help a lot with getting your flow more smoothly and identifying things to improve on.
Computer Science major
John Muir College
Class of 2021

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The Writing Hub was an invaluable resource to me this year for my DOC courses. The writing consultants really helped me develop my arguments authentically by prompting new ways of thinking about writing that I had not considered before.
Molecular & Cell Biology major
Thurgood Marshall College
Class of 2022

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The Writing Hub has helped me so much with Warren Writing! The tutors help me refine my essay, and make sure I'm on track to succeed in the context of the assignment.
Chemical Engineering major
Earl Warren College
Class of 2022

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The writing hub has helped me tremendously in coming up with ideas for my essays and refining my work to make it more persuasive and powerful.
Psychology/Cognitive Psychology major
John Muir College

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I was struggling to understand the prompt of an assignment and they not only helped me understand it they helped me plan out my essay and really made the whole process a lot easier.
Bioengineering major
Eleanor Roosevelt College

During 2017-2018, I worked on two research projects and submitted two research papers. During the process, I actively used Writing Hub Grad Consultation Appointments. The Grad Consultants are so professional. They have actively helped me not only with grammar errors but also with the information flows and professional logics for my research papers.

Because the Grad Consultants are also PhD students, they encouraged me a lot to finish these writing projects and helped me improve my writing. Moreover, they enjoy reading and writing a lot, so they actively provided their experiences regarding how to organize and improve the writing, and I got a sense of how to improve my writing by myself. I do appreciate their kind words, consideration, and help. After several appointments for fine-tuning, I submitted my research papers, and both were accepted individually.

-- Eunjeong Koh, Doctoral Student, Music

 

I want to thank the Writing Hub for the Writing Room you have been hosting. Thanks to these sessions, and now that my results are in, I have been able to write my paper quickly, painlessly, and more confidently because I have been laying the ground work for it all quarter. I have also been more efficient throughout the quarter by integrating writing into my research in a more regular way.

-- Viktoria Gisladottir, Ph.D. Graduate, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

 

Thank you for creating a space and time that I could write my dissertation. I successfully defended my dissertation a few weeks ago, and it would not have been possible without the techniques that I learned from the Writing Workshops and the opportunity to work in the Grad Writing Room in the morning. I included the Writing Hub in the acknowledgements of my dissertation, but in reviewing my dissertation one last time before my final submission I wanted to send a note to say thank you.

-- Suzanne Dunai, Ph.D. Graduate, History

 

In preparation for my qualifying exam I attended several of the Graduate Student Writing Retreats offered by The Writing Hub. These programs have been absolutely essential for my success this past year, and for getting me closer to a more sustainable writing habit. During my second and third years in the anthropology program, I struggled to complete my Master’s thesis. Completing my thesis took much longer than I anticipated as I was wrestling with how to go about working on such a large project.

The graduate student writing retreats were pivotal in helping change my relationship with writing, with my project, and ultimately with my place in academia. It’s still an ongoing learning process, of course, but I feel very differently about my work now than I did even just a year ago. I actually enjoy writing most of the time and therefore enjoy my project so much more. The community the writing retreats offered helped to improve my external accountability as well as to disrupt the silence I’ve felt in graduate school around the difficulties (and even joys!) of the writing process. The retreats gave me the tools to be mindful about the negative self-talk and mental loopholes I utilized to keep me avoiding my projects. The writing process is very personal, and the retreats offered introspection coupled with a healthy dose of motivation that kept us productive and happy.

The graduate student writing retreats and other grad writing programs have been essential for my success thus far, and I know they have made an important impact on many of my colleagues who have also utilized these resources.

-- Belinda Ramirez, Ph.D. Candidate, Anthropology

As an educator, I feel like I have received training [through the Writing Hub] that I so much needed to effectively and successfully incorporate a writing component in my classes. There are two aspects that I feel I have begun to learn in participating in the program and interacting with Matthew and Erica. The first one is how to construct effective writing assignments, the second is how to provide effective feedback to the students on their writing.

Upon my return at UCSD in the Fall of 2017 I set out to design a new upper elective class on data analysis in macroeconomics. Since the beginning, my idea was to have a class that had a strong analytical and numerical component (i.e. what statistical tools do I apply to the data, why, and how), and, at the same time, a strong writing component (i.e. now that I have the numerical results, how do I communicate how and why they are interesting and relevant?). Students seemed to respond well to the analytical and numerical component, but I often sensed frustration on their part in dealing with the two writing assignments during the quarter. It is in this context that I jumped enthusiastically at the opportunity to improve my skills by taking part in the Writing [Hub’s] Program in [Spring 2019]. 

The first impact that the program had on my teaching was to make me think about how to construct a writing assignment by first clarifying to myself what transferable skills and knowledge the students should use and improve by working on the assignment, and then clarifying it in the assignment’s directions. I have also learned how much more effectively students respond to specific and clear directions, as opposed to general and vague directions. More importantly, I have seen the evidence of the effectiveness in the quality of the students’ assignments. In Spring 2019 the overall quality of the writing assignments has been much higher than all the previous times I taught the class. 

The second impact that the program had on my teaching was to make me think about how to provide good and effective feedback on the writing assignments. Grading writing assignments is for me a great challenge because of the number and types of comments that one can, in principle, provide. I often find myself providing feedback on a fundamental aspect of the writing next to a comment on grammar. Through the program I have learned how important it is to prioritize, to start from what is working in the writing in order to address what is not working, to have a set rubric with a few dimensions for evaluations. Having a more structured approach to evaluating writing assignments has turned grading papers into a more enjoyable experience – as much enjoyable as grading can be, of course. More importantly, I have noticed that students responded to my comments, both by asking me to discuss them more thoroughly in office meetings, and/or by incorporating them in their second writing assignments.

Overall, after participating in the program, I feel that I have acquired several critical tools that have permanently changed my approach to the use of writing assignments in my classes.

-- Giacomo Rondina, Associate Teaching Professor, Economics