The Art of Writing Mentors Program supports students taking Reading & Composition (R&C) courses in all departments. Upper-level majors with proven writing skills provide one-on-one writing support to students taking R&C courses.
Writing Mentors are available Sunday through Thursday evenings, and R&C students can sign up for 30-minute online appointments. Mentorship is targeted, responding to the parameters of R&C instruction and the challenges faced by R&C student writers in each department.
Writing Mentors are trained by experienced GSIs to support students at any stage of the writing process, from the early stages of brainstorming and organizing, to drafts- and revisions-in-progress, to sentence-level writing issues. These GSIs provide continued support to Writing Mentors throughout the semester in the form of regular workshop meetings.
In addition to providing targeted writing support to a previously underserved group of student writers, this program aims to bring together R&C students, undergraduate majors, and graduate students in an ongoing conversation about the craft of writing.
Writing Fellows serve as embedded tutors in undergraduate courses. They provide students with discipline-specific support through a combination of in-class writing workshops and office hours. Writing Fellows differ from tutors available through other campus programs in that they have completed the course in which they are embedded, and they are conversant with the course content. Moreover, they have received the training in composition pedagogy needed to address the types of issues encountered by writers in the discipline.
Nathan Atkinson directs the Art of Writing Writing Mentors and Writing Fellows programs. He also teaches two courses with Art of Writing: a class for transfer students designed to help them succeed in discipline-specific research and writing at UC Berkeley (offered online during Summer Sessions and in-person during the academic year), and a class for graduate students on how to teach writing.
Here Atkinson discusses what makes our programs stand out, as well as his teaching philosophy and what he has learned through his years of teaching.
Get Writing Help
Writing Mentors provide one-on-one writing help to Reading & Composition students in all departments. If you are a student taking any R&C course, you’re welcome to schedule a session by clicking on the box below.
Appointments open up around 10 days into the semester.
Sign up at least one day in advance for a 30-minute appointment.
(Note there will be no sessions during RRR or finals weeks, so please plan accordingly.)
Become a Writing Mentor
We’re looking for upper-level students with exemplary reading and writing skills and a strong interest in peer mentorship and teaching.
Writing Mentors earn course units for their work while strengthening their reading and writing skills, gaining teaching experience, and learning from graduate student mentors. Each Mentor is responsible for 3 hours of sessions a week.
For more information about the Writing Mentorship Program, contact Art of Writing Assistant Director Jane Liaw.