Citizen Artist Project

Welcome to the UNCSA Writing Center and ESL Services. Every writer needs a reader. 

At our center, we support high school, undergraduate and graduate students as well as faculty and staff at every stage of the writing process, from brainstorming to drafting and revision stages, covering all kinds of writing projects, such as course papers, grants, artist statements, screenplays, MFA thesis, essays for application (college, internship, scholarship, etc.), resume/CV/cover letter, professional emails, personal writings (poetry, novel or other fiction), and beyond.

In our one-on-one meetings, we discuss topics like the following: 

• Getting started, organizing ideas/content, improving style. 
• Using particular documentation systems (e.g., MLA, Chicago/Turabian, APA). 
• Following conventions of format and style in specific fields and types of writing. 
• Becoming a more effective editor of your own writing.

Writing Center Updates!                                                         

This Fall semester, in-person appointments and virtual meetings available Sunday - Friday, August 18th - December 8th, 2025. There will be evening (only online) as well as daytime appointments available. Make an individual appointment with us. We'd love to meet with you! Use the link below to see available appointments and book the one that's right for you.

►    Make Appointments Here!

We will be closed on the following days:

• Monday, Sep 1st (all day)
• Friday, Sep 19 (all day)
• Saturday, Oct 4, to Tuesday, Oct 7 (FALL BREAK!) 
• Thursday, Nov 10 (until 5 pm)
• Thursday, Nov 27, to Sunday, Nov 30 (THANKSGIVING BREAK)

Note: Upon your requests, a few online-only appointments will be available during the break and when the office is closed!!

How to Reach Us

If you have any questions or need further information about the Writing Center at UNCSA, reach us through email and/or in person. Our office is located in the Teaching and Learning Center (above the library cafe) in room 2309. Co-Director Hadis Ghaedi (ghaedih@uncsa.edu) will be available on campus and can meet with you in person or via Zoom. Nora Streed (streedr@uncsa.edu) will continue to be available via Zoom only.

If You’ve Been Referred to the Writing Center

If your instructor has referred you to the Writing Center, we’re happy to assist you. A referral usually means your instructor sees real potential for you to improve and that by working with us, you might even raise your grade. With that kind of motivation, we’re confident we can make great progress together.

When you schedule your appointment here, please let us know you’ve been referred, and be sure to provide your instructor's name. This helps us tailor our support to your specific needs. At the Writing Center, we will take time to understand the assignment, your instructor’s expectations, and any particular areas of concern. If you need extra support, we may suggest longer or more frequent sessions.

If you have any questions, please email us or stop by, we’re ready to help you make the most of this opportunity.

Services for Faculty and Staff

The Writing Center offers the same support to faculty and staff as it does to student writers, including individualized instruction and focused workshops on writing. We are eager to collaborate with instructors to make writing a productive and meaningful part of their teaching.

If you're teaching a course that includes writing assignments of any kind, please encourage your students to use the Writing Center’s services. If you identify specific students who could benefit from extra support, we recommend referring them to us. To discuss your students’ work with us, please feel free to reach out to the Writing Center Director, Hadis Ghaedi, at ghaedih@uncsa.edu or by phone at 336-726-6965.

Each semester, the Writing Center gives short outreach presentations in classes with writing components. These presentations explain how we can support students throughout their writing process and encourage them to take advantage of our services. If you'd like to schedule a presentation for your class, please send an email request.

To support your students, you’re welcome to share copies of your writing assignments with us. If you would like to use any of our handouts in your teaching, you may pick up copies for duplication or email us with your request. We’re happy to share our materials, but we ask that they not be altered and that the Writing Center be credited as the source.

"I just wanted to thank you both so much for taking the time to meet with my class; it is much appreciated. The information you gave them is what they really need for success and I hope that they will utilize all the advice and tips you gave them this morning and apply them to the course assignments as well as in their other classes and their lives in general."

— From a professor in Division of Liberal Arts

Download PDFs with helpful information on the following topics:

• UNC Chapel Hill's Writing Center's website has excellent, relevant, and helpful guides.
• George Orwell's classic 1946 essay Politics and the English Language offers some simple strategies for making your own writing stronger, clearer, and more useful to your readers. 
• Purdue OWL is an excellent resource for MLA formatting guidelines and contains a great deal of high quality reference material.
• UW-Madison Writer's Handbook is also another excellent source for not only all types of formatting guidlines such as MLA, APA, Chicago, etc but also instructions on ways to improve your writing style, writing process and structure, and academic and professiobal writing skills.
• Grammar Rock videos are fabulous learning tools for basic grammar information. No, really. You might not be able to get the songs out of your head, but that's kind of the idea.
• Merriam-Webster's online dictionary is easy to use and contains many helpful articles & videos about word use issues as well as a fun "Word of the Day" app and of course a fully functional online dictionary and thesaurus.