Writing Center

Overview

Writing Center tutors are available in person and online to help students achieve their writing goals at any stage of their writing process. All currently enrolled degree-seeking students are welcome, and they can work on essays, artist statements, application materials, presentation texts, theses, proposals, creative writing, or social media posts. Our tutors are kind, encouraging, and interested!

Though drop-ins are welcome, the best way to guarantee an appointment is to schedule one in Navigate. Once you create an appointment, you will be emailed instructions with directions for working with your tutor online or in person.

If you have any questions, or need help making an appointment, stop by the Writing Center on the 10th floor of Lakeview, call us at 312-499-4138, or email wcenter@saic.edu. A front desk assistant will be happy to assist you during our open hours.

Make an Appointment

Making Appointments
You are able to make one appointment per day and no more than two appointments per week.

Cancelling Appointments in Advance
If you can't make your appointment, please cancel your appointment as soon as possible. Do so by logging into Navigate, selecting your appointment, and then deleting it.

No-Shows
A "no-show" is when you do not cancel your appointment in advance and miss it. If you miss two appointments in any given term, you will be blocked from making additional appointments for the rest of that term.

Last-Minute Cancellations
A last-minute cancellation is when you cancel your appointment within twelve hours of your appointment. It will be counted as half of a no-show. Two last-minute cancellations count as one no-show.

Late Arrivals
If you are ten or more minutes late for your appointment, it will be offered to another student and counted as a no-show.
The Writing Center is now using Navigate to schedule appointments with tutors.
Visit saic.navigate.eab.com.
Click "Login with your school account."
Enter the credentials you use to access your SAIC Gmail account.
Click "Schedule an Appointment."
Select "Writing Center" as the department.
Select "Online Appointment" as the appointment type.
Pick a date to see time slots in a 30-day range from that date.
Click "Find Available Time."
Use the arrows to switch between days and look for a time that works for you.
Click a time slot to schedule an appointment!
For more help with scheduling an appointment through Navigate, please watch the appointment scheduling tutorial.
For more information about Navigate and additional tutorials, please visit SAIC's Navigate webpage.

The Writing Center serves all currently enrolled degree-seeking students.

All Writing Center Tutors are equipped to work with students on many different forms of writing, and everyone can help you with your writing goals! Take a look at the bios of our Writing Center Tutors & Staff, and if you would like to schedule an appointment with a specific tutor, email wcenter@saic.edu.

Writing Tutorials

The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) offers free, fifty-minute writing tutorials through the Writing Center. Tutors are available to assist all currently enrolled students with any stage of the writing process.

Students may work with tutors on the following:

Interpreting writing prompts, essay questions, & application leads
Brainstorming & getting started
Creating artist statements
Making claims & arguments
Developing ideas
Strengthening organization
Improving writing style
Clarifying language
Addressing Chicago Manual of Style (CMS), American Psychological Association (APA) style, & Modern Language Association (MLA) style questions
Citing references
Correcting basic grammar, spelling, & punctuation

Mission Statement

At the Writing Center, our work is individualized, while our scope is global. Everyone is welcome.

We use close observation, careful listening, and honest response while we encourage impassioned engagement, deliberate language, and thoughtful action. Students' ideas hold sway.

We embrace works in progress and what they demand from us: that we must allow false starts, address our biases, research facts, bring evidence to light, and hear alternate arguments before we make claims. Messiness is essential.

We encourage striving beyond safe conclusions, and we accept that discomfort is necessary to reach meaningful understanding. Openness is key.

We believe that relationships—between individuals listening to and asking hard questions of each other—form the basis of personal transformations and meaningful social change. Learning happens together.

Staff

Shanti Grandhi

Tutor & Head FDA

I’m a second-year Painting and Drawing MFA student. I work primarily in oil and charcoal. My work is a meditation on my personal narrative, how history gets written and how the language of paint makes meaning. Before SAIC, I lived in New York City and I have studied art history and business. As a tutor, I like to focus on helping students clarify their key arguments and work to clearly express their points.

Pronouns: she/her

Ashley Allen

Tutor

I am a first-year graduate student in the Arts Administration and Policy program. During undergrad I studied art history and developed a photography practice. I'm from Texas--although I have never had a horse, cowboy hat, or gun!--and have written exhibition reviews, essays, artist interviews, and more for several publications. I am looking forward to working with you and being a part of your writing journey. In my free time I love to cook, do yoga, be outside, and make people laugh.

Specialties: Critical analysis, art history/theory, reviews, essays, research papers, and creative nonfiction.

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Will Owen

Tutor

I'm a first-year student in the MFA Writing program. I create stories, songs, flows of language, and other literary objects. I enjoy watching avant-garde films, caring for my two dogs, and listening to music that has no beats or lyrics.

Specialties: Creative writing, grammar, citations, the Chicago Manual of Style, academic arguments, and legal writing

Pronouns: he/him/his

Riley Gunderson

Tutor

I am a second-year graduate student in the dual degree Arts Administration and Art History program. I have a background as a visual artist and writer, with a BFA in Fine Arts from Parsons. My work uses visual and written means to explore themes such as history, perception, materiality, and memory, specifically concerning queer, trans, and feminist identity.

Specialties: Artist statements, research papers, visual and literary analysis, and art history/theory.

Pronouns: they/them/theirs

Emma Stine

Tutor

I’m a first-year Painting and Drawing MFA student working primarily on narrative representational oil paintings. Originally I’m from New Hampshire, and I studied Fine Arts and Italian Studies as an undergraduate. I enjoy discussing personal and family history as they relate to people’s current artistic practices.

Specialties: Artist’s statements, visual analysis, personal essays

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Selena Brewer

FDA

Hello! I'm a writer (or I like to call myself one) from North Carolina. Like every writing student ever, I enjoy reading and writing. I am currently in my first year here at SAIC in the–you guessed it–MFAW program. I love poetry and cafe hopping & you'll often catch me doing both!

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Madison Mae Parker

Tutor

Hi! My name is Madison or Madi, and I am a second-year MFA Performance Candidate! My undergraduate degree was in English Creative Writing. While in undergrad, I began reading at poetry open mics and quickly fell in love with poetry — especially the communities around poetry. It was from my exploration of poetry in the body and bodily communities that I began to move into performance spaces and asking where a poem might long to live. In addition to these creative wonderings in my studio practice, I have worked for a poetry publishing house, at various art nonprofits, in after-school programs, as well as with event production teams. I love brainstorming ideas and thinking through what makes you excited or alive with curiosity. When I am not "art-ing," I love baking, eating hot Cheetos, and hanging out with my two cats MeowZaki and Magic Conch Shell. www.MadisonMaeParker.com

Specialties: Poetry, creative writing as a whole, resumes, and artist statements

Pronouns: she/they

Marium Asif

FDA

Marium is a first year graduate student in the MFA Writing cohort. Her practice involves speculative fiction narration through writing, illustration, and new media. She explores politics, dystopian elements/events, mythology, folklore, and magical realism in her fiction and personal essays. When she’s not writing or drawing, she’s humming along to South Asian music or browsing through thrift stores.

Portrait of a smiling person from the shoulders up

Pahola Ramos

FDA

I am a second-year graduate student in the FVNMA department with a background in experimental documentaries. Recently, I have developed a curiosity for expanded cinema and creating different forms of documentary narration through writing, installation, and performance. I enjoy watching films, running, and finding good places to eat!

Pronouns: she/her