Although campus is less populated during the summer months, the University Writing Center’s doors are still open.

Functioning on a limited, fully remote schedule, summer writing consultants are ready to assist Dukes with “tutoring, consultations, workshops, and online resources to support all types of writing, including class assignments, scholarly articles, fiction, and personal narratives, and professional writing,” according to the center’s website. 

And the help doesn’t end with students. The center is open to JMU staff members, and faculty are also welcome to stop by for support in their teaching and research efforts.

Sara Buie (’25), who received the center’s Excellence in Consulting Award in Spring 2025, has been a writing consultant for nearly three years and is continuing in that role this summer. 

Madison: How does the UWC serve students and staff at JMU?

Sara Buie (’25): “I help any student at any stage in the writing process and with any type of writing assignment. That can be a big midterm paper, a cover letter or a request, like, ‘Can you look over this email? I’m kind of nervous to send it.’ That is how I package the official role, but writing consultants also serve students by offering a safe space to talk about academic struggles, for being vulnerable about learning how to write.”

“I think a lot of times writing consultants also take on a coaching kind of role. We’re also peer tutors, so it’s nice when you’re talking to someone who is around your age and can say, ‘Oh yeah, I took that class two years ago,’ or, ‘Yeah, that professor was tough.’ That kind of encouragement and camaraderie is really nice for students.”

“We are trying to establish more of a role in interacting with faculty at JMU, especially with required sessions, which is when students are required by their professor to come visit the Writing Center as part of their assignment. We can notice confusing prompt language or patterns of certain parts of the assignments that students tend to struggle with.”

Madison: Many students use the UWC during the school year, but what are some common appointments you get during the summer?

Buie: “We have really limited availability over the summer compared to the school year. The assignments are pretty much the same — a lot of Personal Statement writing for graduate-school applications or other higher-ed programs, and then some typical school assignments. It varies a lot, but the variation is the same kind of things you would see in the fall or spring, just at a lower rate.”

Madison: What do you enjoy most about being a consultant for the UWC?

Buie: “I really enjoy getting to connect with other students on campus and kind of offering them support and helping model writing for them and what a healthy relationship with writing can look like. I get very fulfilled by getting to work with students and by offering what advice I can that is maybe applicable to them.”

“Personally, before becoming a consultant, I was pretty shy, and I struggled sometimes to talk with people, but this job is totally conversation-based. I had to learn a lot of soft skills that have kind of transformed how I interact with people day to day.”

Madison: How do you break down the kind of help a client needs with their writing, and what is your process?

Buie: “When a student or client books an appointment, there is a form I can see that has basic information about what class it’s for, what type of writing task it is, when it is due, how much you have written and then what your major concerns are. Some people fill that out in great detail, and sometimes it is bare bones, but you don’t really know for sure what the person needs until they’re sitting next to you, and you ask, ‘What did you want to work on today?’ So, I normally ask a couple of questions, and that’s just so I am able to kind of understand a bit more about the assignment. Then I shift toward what they hope to accomplish by the end of this, and that is where it gets very individualized.”

“It’s a lot of listening to the client and being aware of what you’re likely to accomplish in an actual 30-minute or hourlong session and what is manageable for you. A client may need help with higher-order concerns, like problems with organization of their thesis, or later-order concerns like final editing, grammar and minor revisions. So, it’s my job to balance what the student hopes to do with what the best consultation practice is and how to set them up for the most success.”

“No session has ever, ever, ever been the same, even when working with the same client.”

Madison: How has working with the UWC elevated your own writing abilities?

Buie: “In order to work at the Writing Center, you have to take a class that basically trains you and takes you through like a mentorship where you work with clients. Before I took that class, I never outlined my writing. I would just sit down and kind of go for it, and that has probably been the biggest shift. I do it now with almost every assignment.”

“I think I’m better at noticing when my writing is maybe confusing to others, because I’ve taken that position so often. Being someone’s surrogate audience, I can do it a lot easier in my own writing.”

Madison: What is one piece of writing advice you impart to students? 

Buie: “I want more students to understand how much of a process writing is and that struggling with it at times is not a bad thing. It’s something that you get better at with practice, and even then you are going to have days where it is really hard to write and days when it flows.”

“I think a lot of students, especially and unfortunately K-12 students, get the impression of ‘Oh, I’m a bad writer,’ like it is something that is just not a part of who they are. And I want to tell them, ‘No, maybe you’re just not a practiced writer, or maybe no one has given you the tools to be what you think a good writer is.’ I want to get rid of that idea that there is supposed to be a perfect rough draft or a perfect writer.”

The Writing Center is housed under the university’s Learning Centers, which offer free tutoring by experienced faculty members and students on six discipline-specific subjects. Also included are the Communication Center, English Language Consultations, Peer Academic Coaching, Peer Assisted Study Sessions, and the Science and Math Learning Center.