Distance Consulting
The Graduate Writing Center aims to support all Penn State graduate student writers by providing conversational and individualized feedback at any stage of a writing project. Penn State graduate students located at branch campuses or taking classes off campus, however, may find it impossible to visit the GWC office to receive this support. In an effort to support these writers, the GWC offers a distance consulting service to supplement its face-to-face services.
The distance consulting service is specifically designed to serve the needs of place-bound writers–that is, writers who are unable to visit University Park due to work, research, or enrollment in World Campus. We use a combination of Skype and Google Docs.
To use our distance consulting service, please sign up for an appointment through the designated online calendar.
Required Software
In order to use our distance consulting service, you will need to do the following:
- Install Skype on your computer.
- Add us to your contacts list. Our username on Skype is graduate.writing.center.
- When your appointment time arrives, log in to your Skype account, click on our name in your “Contacts,” and press the call or video call button to begin the session. We are available for either video or regular chat, depending on whether you have a webcam.
- For more information about how to add us to your contacts or how to troubleshoot a technical issue, visit Skype’s support website.
- Watch a video about how to use Skype with the Graduate Writing Center
We have found that Google Docs, when used in tandem with Skype, is an effective way of sharing your work because it allows us to see the changes you make in real time. You might consider sharing your document with your consultant using Google Docs before a session begins. In order to do this, you will need a Google account.
Follow these steps in order to share your document with us:
- Go to drive.google.com
- Upload your file by hitting the red button next to “Create” in the left column.
- Once in your document, click the blue “Share” button in the upper right corner.
- Share your document with us at gwc.psu@gmail.com by adding our email to the textbox underneath “Invite people.”
- For further help or troubleshooting, visit Google Drive’s support site.
You can also view a video with step-by-step instructions for how to use Google Docs with us.
To inquire further about this service or to get help with an appointment, please contact us at gwc.psu@gmail.com.
