Skip to main content
George Mason's Homepage
Free support for Mason writers (more...)

Welcome to the Writing Center at Mason

Schedule
an Appointment

Sessions available at our Arlington and Fairfax locations, or online:

New Client?

Register as a new user


Existing Client?

Login and schedule an appointment



Need help scheduling? Watch our video Writing Center Resource




Events



Contact Us



Add us on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter



Loading

The Tutors

Rachel hails from northern Louisiana and is currently pursuing her MA of English in Cultural Studies at GMU. She received her BA in History and Gender Studies from Centenary College in 2008. Before moving to the east coast for graduate school, Rachel taught high school English for two years in Louisiana. Her academic interests reside at the intersection of visual culture, activism and gender. In her spare time she enjoys long-distance running, riding her bike, playing frisbee with her dog "Ludo" or watching Glee with her adorable cat "Littlefoot."
Ben is an MA candidate in the Linguistics program at GMU. In 2010 he graduated summa cum laude from Liberty University with a degree in Advertising and Public Relations. His favorite word is communication - which gives him a passion for helping students write well, and also drives his work in graphic design, copy writing, and social media marketing. Ben has always lived around Virginia, but he's been to the Philippines and Romania and aspires with his fiancee to live abroad. He is a fan of peanut butter, morning trail runs, taking big whiffs of the air, and musing about stuff with a cup of coffee in hand. He also likes good photographs and really bad puns.
Erin is a native Marylander who graduated from Towson University in 2010 with a BA in English. During her undergraduate career, Erin was a staff member of and contributor to Towson’s literary and arts magazine, tutored adult English language-learners at a local community college, and completed an independent study in linguistics under the auspices of TU’s Honors College. Erin worked in the educational publishing industry in Baltimore for a year before moving “south” to begin her first year as a fiction candidate in George Mason’s MFA program. Born with five wisdom teeth, Erin has two half-marathons under her shoelaces and delights in the discovery of new (to her) grocery stores.
Eiman (ESL Specialist), our ESL Specialist, has been a part of the George Mason community for eleven years, as a student, ESL Specialist at the Writing Center, and English and Writing instructor with ELI and GSE. She has a B.A. in International Studies and an M.A. in Linguistics. She also teaches English for Academic Purposes at The George Washington University. Eiman is currently working with Dr. Terry Zawacki, Anna Habib, Sarah Baker, and Shamama Moosvi on the Diversity Project, researching non-native students' experiences as writers in the American academy as compared to their native country. The research team has published this research in a monograph titled Valuing Written Accents, and the findings are available on an interactive website: http://writtenaccents.gmu.edu.
Darby is a native of Slidell, Louisiana, a place she often describes as "New Orleans." Darby graduated from Florida State University with a BA in English in 2006. After completing an editorial internship with a magazine in Orlando, Darby moved to Los Angeles in 2007, where she lived on a friend's couch for a minute and found employment as a closed caption editor, a cocktail server, a legal assistant, and a website copywriter (to name just a few). Darby has been involved with WriteGirl, a nonprofit creative writing organization that benefits teen girls in Los Angeles, since 2008. In 2011, she decided to leave the beach to pursue an MFA in Poetry at George Mason, where she is looking forward to experiencing snow for the first time.
Alex comes from Carrboro/Chapel Hill, the place that proved to him that North Carolina could be cool. He graduated in 2008 from UNC-Chapel Hill with a BA in Journalism and a minor in Creative Writing (and another minor in Russian he swears that he earned, much to the chagrin of the foreign language department). He then moved to Prague, Czech Republic, and lived there for a year, holding such various positions as magazine editor, book-store clerk, English teacher and coffee roasting assistant. Alex has been creating fiction since as long as he's been able to talk about superheroes, and he's been writing it down since college. Wait around long enough and he might just make you laugh.
Kate is a second-year poet in the MFA program at Mason. She grew up in Mechanicsville, VA, which local lore holds was the place where covered wagons broke down east of Richmond. She used to drive a very suave minivan with the same problem. Kate graduated from Denison University with a BA in English in 2010. Last year, she worked at a fair housing organization. Kate spends her spare time drinking coffee, playing rec. league field hockey, and visiting unusual historical sites. She has recently taken up vegetable gardening and would appreciate any tips you have.
Christine (ESL Specialist), a native Arlingtonian, is pursuing an MA in Linguistics and a certificate in Teaching English as a Second Language. She received her BA in French from the College of William & Mary in 2008 and has taught English in Bosnia and France. She speaks French fluently and has spent 15% of her life (so far) in Paris. She aspires to increase that percentage, but also to live in other places and learn other languages. Christine is also interested in politics, current events, science, indie rock, and board games.
Liz is a first-year fiction candidate in Mason's MFA program. She grew up in the 'burbs of Nashville, TN, and Nashville is still basically her favorite place in the world. Liz graduated from the University of Chicago with an English degree in 2007, which is also when she started bartending. But thankfully that didn't last too long, and since then she's worked in DC as an administrative assistant, in North Carolina as a small-town beat reporter and writing tutor at a community college, and in Lancaster, PA, as an administrator for a gifted kids' summer camp. When Liz is not in Fairfax, she's in Annapolis, where her charming husband, a dashing active duty Marine, teaches English at the Naval Academy.
Danielle is a first-year MFA candidate with a focus in creative nonfiction. Having grown up in Wisconsin and graduated from Minnesota's Gustavus Adolphus College, she is a proud Midwesterner and Scandinavian enthusiast. She has spent the last two years teaching English overseas. Danielle got her feet wet teaching in one of South Korea's many academies, followed by a drastic change of pace in a Hungarian village. From wriggling octopus appetizers to communist kitchen appliances, she has enjoyed the many experiences living abroad has offered but is happy to be back in the United States and at George Mason University. In her free time, Danielle likes to squat in cafes, experiment in the kitchen, and explore all this area has to offer.
Alicia is eager to begin her first year as a fiction candidate in Mason's MFA program. She grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota but has since lived in New York, California, Spain, Vietnam and Massachusetts. She received her BA in English and Spanish from Colgate University in 2008. After earning her TESOL Certificate, she moved to Hanoi, Vietnam where she taught English to students aged 4-40. For the past two years, she has worked as a Writing, Biology, and Greek History teacher for teenagers at a therapeutic day school in Boston, MA. Alicia is in constant pursuit of the perfect brownie recipe, has a fear of open refrigerators, and savors the 13 minutes of walking (and the fresh air) at the front end of her commute.
Chrissy is in her second year studying creative nonfiction in George Mason's MFA program. A Michigan native, Chrissy is constantly experiencing Great-Lake-withdrawal and has actually begun to miss snowstorms. She received her BA in Political Science from Kalamazoo College in 2009, where she also studied abroad in Quito, Ecuador. She has since worked as a video editor, a production assistant, a standardized test scorer, and a teacher. She spends her free time obsessing over all things Harry Potter, pondering ways to outsmart velociraptors, and learning tarot.
RJ is a second-year poet in George Mason's MFA program. He graduated from The University of North Carolina Greensboro with a BA in English in 2010. RJ spent the last year teaching grammar and writing skills to other human beings with a moderate amount of success. He also roamed around Fairfax/DC, wrote approximately 3 billion poems, learned guitar and mandolin(mostly), and developed the proper beard-to-face ratio that constitutes manliness. RJ is tremendously excited about working in the writing center. He plans to continue referring to himself in the 3rd person after writing this bio.
Amber is a first-year MFA poetry candidate who hails from Long Valley, New Jersey, a place that few have heard of. She graduated from Susquehanna University in the Spring of 2011 with a BA in creative writing and an English 7-12 teaching certification. Undergrad allotted her the opportunity to teach 8th grade English, to defend herself in order to receive departmental honors, to be credited with her first publications, to tutor in writing and SAT prep, and to edit and publish for on-campus magazines. Having experienced and savored both teaching and tutoring, editing and publishing, she is eager to get back in the saddle. She can often be found giving way to the lure of an open window, cooking an array of cuisines, or enjoying the quiet.
Kim is a first-year MFA nonfiction candidate from the "City of Brotherly Love." She received her self-designed undergraduate degree from GMU in the Summer 2011 semester. Her Bachelor's of Individualized Study concentration is Applied Music Cognition: Rhetoric & Writing. In her undergraduate studies, she worked closely with GMU's writing center as a Peer Tutor, was accepted into the Undergraduate Apprenticeship Program as a Writing Fellow, conducted HSRB approved research focused on the writing experience of GMU students, and published a personal essay with the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities. Other experiences include hoagie and cheesesteak engineering, running covert missions as an enlisted member of the USAF, and spokesmom of four future leaders.
Kyle is a first-year Creative Nonfiction MFA candidate. Among other professions he has pursued carpentry, coaching, plumbing, pool maintenance, masonry, editing, and writing, and must acknowledge the last of these to be the most challenging, but also the most rewarding. He received his BA in English from Bridgewater State University in Massachusetts, where one of his most fulfilling endeavors was serving as an editor for BSU’s undergraduate literary arts journal, an experience that continually reinforced his belief in the limitless potential of student writing.
Jay is a second-year MFA fiction candidate from Atlanta, GA. He graduated from the University of Georgia in the spring of 2010 with a BA in English, a BA in Latin, and a minor in Japanese. As an instructor for Tutor.com, he discovered the bizarre pros and cons of online teaching; as a tutor with the AVID program at TC Williams High School in Alexandria, he taught writing and brainwashed his students into wanting to go to college; and as an instructor for Fairfax Collegiate Summer Program, he taught fifth graders how to write topic sentences and ninth graders how to build sweet robots for five-on-five capture-the-flag. When his time is his own, he tends to waste it doodling on his guitar, playing story-driven video games, and teaching his cat to fetch while navigating obstacle courses.
Michele is a first-year MFA poetry candidate from just an hour away in central Maryland. She graduated from St. Mary's College of Maryland in 20ll with a BA in English and two minors: one in Philosophy, and one in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Don't be mistaken, however, she is neither a great thinker nor an unshaven raging feminist, just a little bit of a grammar nerd. She first discovered she liked working with other students on their writing projects while guest teaching a creative writing class of freshmen and sophomores, where they explored and discussed the quintessential "bad poem." Outside of her writing interests, she has a fondness for Ancient MesoAmerican art, singing loudly in the car with the windows down, and her roommate's cat.
Phineas was born and raised, which he is still trying to get over. He received a BA in English from Longwood University with minors in Philosophy and Creative Writing. After several years in the "real" world, he is currently working on a Master's in English Literature, hoping to hide in academia forever.
Spencer is a first-year MFA fiction candidate hailing from Long Beach, California, a place known for its awful inclement weather. He graduated from the University of California, Irvine in 2008 and subsequently worked as a peon at Trader Joe's, a Development and Outreach Coordinator at Red Hen Press, and a referee for a pee-wee flag football league. He has a cat named Nugget who, in keeping with stereotypical cat behavior, enjoys baths, foot rubs, and playing fetch. He has recently discovered that he has a small obsession with rollercoasters and in his spare time, which graduate school seems intent on making scarce, enjoys cooking, trying to bike on Fairfax's incredibly narrow roads, and marveling at the unbelievable amount of very green trees in Virginia.
Steph is a DC native and a first-year nonfiction student in Mason's MFA program. Steph earned her BA in English and Journalism at Penn State, where she also played lacrosse, wrote for her school newspaper, and attended every home football game. Since then, she's moved back to the DC area and has worked as a writer and editor for a local nonprofit. She's also taught Creative Writing and Journalism at the University of Colorado in Boulder—a place she swears she'll move back to some day. Steph is thrilled to be back in the classroom and working with students again. When she's not at The Writing Center or in class, she can be found running, eating, traveling out west, or planning her upcoming wedding.
Alisha is an M.A. student in the Linguistics Program at GMU. Her undergraduate studies lead her to a B.A. in English with a concentration in Creative Writing (Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry) and a Minor in Business. She grew up all around the country and spent sometime living in Morocco during her tween years, which later ignited a passion for language, writing, literature, and culture. Alisha speaks fluent French, some Moroccan Arabic, and dabbles in Japanese. She loves anime, Japanese food, coffee, books, hanging out with her best bud, and collects cultural clothing and jewelry.
Heather is a student in the Master’s of English in Teaching Writing and Literature program. She is a native of Fairfax and graduated in 2010 from George Mason with degrees in English and Spanish with a minor in psychology. During college, she studied Spanish language and culture in Madrid, Spain and English literature at Oxford University. She is looking for her next great adventure, but for now enjoys staying home with a good book or a delightfully awful movie.
Danielle is a first-year MFA candidate with a focus in creative nonfiction. Having grown up in Wisconsin and graduated from Minnesota's Gustavus Adolphus College, she is a proud Midwesterner and Scandinavian enthusiast. She has spent the last two years teaching English overseas. Danielle got her feet wet teaching in one of South Korea's many academies, followed by a drastic change of pace in a Hungarian village. From wriggling octopus appetizers to communist kitchen appliances, she has enjoyed the many experiences living abroad has offered but is happy to be back in the United States and at George Mason University. In her free time, Danielle likes to squat in cafes, experiment in the kitchen, and explore all this area has to offer.
Erica, originally from Pennsylvania, moved to Northern Virginia to begin work towards her MFA in nonfiction writing this fall. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Villanova University, where she majored in Communication, minored in French, and studied writing and rhetoric through the University's English department. In college, she also served as a committee member for the annual Special Olympics Fall Festival and gave campus tours to prospective students and their families. After graduating, she worked as a newspaper reporter, primarily covering education, but also having the chance to write features, columns, and contribute to the newspaper's education blog. When she is not in class, she can be found reading, writing, or running.
Hannah Hannah is an undergraduate peer tutor in her junior year, pursuing a global affairs degree in hopes to travel the world and help others. Hannah grew up in Gloucester, VA, a small town that lies on the Chesapeake Bay. So far as an undergrad, Hannah has enjoyed learning Arabic and joining every campus organization she can. In her spare time, Hannah likes to watch cheesy TV shows and play with her two Jack Russell Terriers "Pete" and "Ella"
Rachel is an undergraduate senior in GMU’s Visual Arts program. Her concentration is Graphic Design so she can often be found deliberating over serif or sans serif typefaces. Her goal is to someday become a teacher of secondary-school art. She was born and raised in Falls Church, Virginia, and loves exploring the shops and parks that the small-ish town has to offer. When she is not at school, Rachel likes to read, hike, draw comics, and cook, all of which is done in great excess. She also buys a lot of pens to draw with and would be more than happy to tell you about her favorite ones.
Nick is a Senior and a double major in Philosophy and Government, and is the president of the George Mason Chapter of Pi Sigma Alpha (the national Political Science Honor Society). Outside of the cocoon of academia he enjoys reading and writing, video games, hockey, loud music, and long walks on the beach at sunset. He is very excited to tutor here at the Writing Center and to help impart his love of writing to others.
Kate is currently a senior at George Mason University, and will graduate with a Business Management major in the spring. She realized her love for writing while taking English 302, a business writing course. During the course she completed numerous research papers, thoroughly enjoying the extensive research on business related topics. Along with her interest in writing, she is currently interning at Carahsoft Technology Corporation, a government contractor whose focus is primarily on selling software. She is also a member of Alpha Xi Delta, a social sorority that participates in numerous philanthropy events supporting Autism Speaks.
Olivia is in the middle of receiving her BFA in Dance, with a minor in Business. She comes from a family of writers, although none are famous authors; she also has some aspirations to become an English Teacher in the future. The love of her life weighs 16lbs and has a white stripe running down her nose. This loved one has many skills, such as Sit, Stay, Roll Over, Crawl, High Five, Shake, and has almost caught the hang of Fetch. If Olivia isn't in a dance studio, you can find her in a library or in her mother's kitchen, chopping tomatoes. Her vice is her addiction to Bruschetta and Gnocchi and her virtue is the ability to Cartwheel across a stage.
Alex is a first-year graduate student pursuing a Masters degree in Literature. Raised as a small-town Florida boy, he spent nineteen years of his life living in Sarasota before moving to Miami to pursue college, completing his Bachelor’s degree in English at Florida International University in 2011. As an avid gamer and hockey fanatic, he also splits his free time reading low-brow detective novels and riding his bicycle.

Announcements

--WE ARE OPEN! Drop by or make an appointment online using the links to the left. We are looking forward to seeing you!

--WE ARE BACK ONLINE! Our software for online appointments has been upgraded and is now available to schedule appointments at all of our Writing Center locations. Because the software has been upgraded, ALL USERS must re-register as new users to make an appointment, so choose the "New Client" icon to the left of this screen. The Writing Center will open on Monday, January 30, in all locations. Use the location drop-box to check availability at specific locations.

Please note we have a new cancellation policy: All users wishing to cancel their appointments must do so up to twenty minutes before the start of the appointment. Users who fail to cancel their appointments in time will be counted as no-shows. So please keep track of your appointments -- we want to see you and talk with you about your writing!

--Happy New Year! The Writing Center will open for appointments on Monday, January 30. We upgraded our online scheduler over the break and are building the spring semester schedule this week. We will post an announcement when the website is ready to begin accepting appointments, so check back soon! We're looking forward to seeing you!

--Welcome to the final push of the semester! FYI, the appointments between now and when we close on the evening of December 15th are filling up fast. Reserve your slot today.

--Scheduling FYI: Don't forget to make sure you choose the right schedule from the drop-down menu when registering your appointment. Each one is for a different campus location! For more scheduling help, please see this how-to video:

 

--Library hours: Did you know we're offering more tutoring hours in the JC and Fenwick libraries? Log-in and check out the "Library Hours" schedule today! Our Prince William tutors also work out of the Mercer Library--see the Prince William schedule for more info.

--Eisenhower Hall tutoring! We are now offering tutoring hours in the main lobby of Eisenhower on the Fairfax campus. Come work with Hannah or Heather on Tuesday evenings; available hours are 7:30 to 8:30 and 8:30 to 9:30. See the appropriate drop down on the online scheduler or walk-in for an appointment!

--FYI: Online Writing Lab (OWL) papers should always be sent to OWL@gmu.edu for your scheduled session. For more OWL information, please click on "Locations" at the top of the page and expand the "Online Writing Lab" tab.

--The Writing Center will be closed Thanksgiving week from Nov 22nd to the 27th. It will close for winter break on December 15th.

--The WC homepage now features a live chat window (on the left hand side of your screen). During our normal business hours, ask our office assistants any questions you have about scheduling, finding an online resource on our web page, etc.

--Follow us on Twitter and Facebook for weekly updates, notification of available appointments, word of the day, and much, much more!

--Professors! Want us to run a workshop in your classroom? Contact us to discuss the possibility!

Read our new section about setting up High School Writing Centers.

Reminder: The LLC Schedule is for LLC students only. Please see another schedule for an appointment.

Students: to update your email address:

  1. Click on "Login and schedule an appointment" and enter your user name and password.
  2. Click on "Go to the Control Panel" in the top left (below the Writing Center logo).
  3. Under "Control Panel" at the bottom, click "Change My Profile Information/Password."
  4. Update your email address, then click the "Edit Profile" button at the bottom to save your changes.
Schedules at the Writing Center

Please look at the list of all of our schedule options for this semester to find the schedule that fits your needs. You can select the appropriate schedule from the drop-down menu on the scheduler, after you log in. Please note that a few of our schedules are restricted for specific users. If you schedule an appointment for one of these restricted schedules, your tutor will not be able to accommodate you and you will have to reschedule.

Please let us know if you have any questions: 703-993-1200.

  • Fairfax, Robinson A114: This schedule is open to all students for face-to-face appointments.
  • Fairfax, Enterprise 076: This schedule is open to all students for face-to-face appointments.
  • Fairfax, Robinson A114: ESL Tutoring: This schedule is open to all students whose first language is not English and who want targeted support from our ESL specialists.
  • Fairfax, Library Hours: This schedule is open to all students, but ideal for students who are conducting research and would like to work with tutors on how to integrate their research with their own writing. A tutor can provide strategies from note-taking to summarizing sources to properly documenting and citing sources.
  • Arlington, Founders Hall Room 212: This schedule is open to all Arlington students.
  • OWL: This schedule is for our Online Writing Lab. You can schedule an appointment for a specific time and email your essay AND assignment instructions to owl@gmu.edu. Your tutor will give you feedback on your essay within the scheduled hour.
  • Prince William, Occoquan Room 219-A: This schedule is open to all Prince William Campus students.
  • LLC STUDENTS ONLY: This schedule is restricted to Living and Learning Community Students and University 100 students. Appointments will meet in Fenwick Library behind the reference desk.
  • Personal Statement Tutor: This schedule is restricted to students applying for fellowships and scholarships through the Office of Post-Graduate Fellowship and Scholarship.
  • Engineering/Volgenau School: Appointments are available 6:30-8:30 p.m. in 2611 Nguyen Engineering Building; please email phillips.dwayne@gmail.com to schedule an appointment.
[top]
© The University Writing Center 2009 | 4400 University Drive MS2G8 | Fairfax, VA 22030 | Tel: 703-993-1200 | wcenter@gmu.edu