Student Testimonials

I had the absolute pleasure of participating in the graduate student café in the summer of 2020. I cannot stress enough how important it has been to me as a graduate student. It has had a positive impact on my writing and the direction of my research. When I began graduate studies, it was with the desire to find an intellectual community to challenge me and help me develop my thoughts. After seven years at York University, I can honestly say that this offering helped to fulfill these goals. Our café was a community of scholars, who have continued to meet as a group over Zoom since it ended. I would definitely recommend this to other students.

- Tyler Ball

Every instructor at the Writing Centre is very patient. They not only improved my academic writing and assignment grades, but also helped me to understand the inner logic of English language. I really appreciate their help.

- Lydia Chen

Academic writing is an iterative process, and getting another set of eyes on your work is absolutely crucial. The writing instructors provide invaluable feedback for any area of research. The one-on-one appointments allow an opportunity to critically review your work and talk through your ideas.

- Daniel Choi

I used the Writing Centre on many occasions to help me with my graduate school applications. I am beyond grateful for the detailed and valuable feedback I received on my statement and CV. Working with different individuals at the writing centre helped me improve my writing immensely. Everyone I spoke to was kind and supportive and really took the time to provide me with suggestions to refine my work. From conceptualization to editing a final draft, the Writing Centre is an essential resource for students and I would highly recommend accessing it.

- Hymnjyot Gill

I discovered the Writing Centre during the second year of my Master's Studies in 2015. At that time, I was not aware of the challenges that any good writing process entails. The appropriation of academic skills requires special training on organizing a writing piece; how to use a writing piece as a platform to mature your ideas, ideas that should be in dialogue with other people's ideas who were early inspired by the same interests that motivate our own inquiries. This dialogue demands a particular use of vocabulary, some precise grammar constructions, and through the meetings with the tutors and by iterating, good outcomes always materialize. The Writing Centre tutors hold my hand in providing me with all the skills I need to continue my journey as a writer. In this journey, the tutors of the Writing Centre become not only the people who support me but also who inspire me to become a better thinker through the improvement of the command of the language. The Writing Centre has given me the language tools to build a solid foundation and make me feel ready to face future challenges.  As a TA, I always recommend the students improve their work organization by visiting this precious resource. Still, I find that most of them are not aware of the limitations their writing skills are producing on them since writing is a path to consolidate the knowledge acquired in any context.

- Mburucuya Marcela Ortiz Imlach

After discussing my draft with an instructor, I learned new approaches to assignments and gained different perspectives on the processes at work.

- Daniel Kim

I would like to give the Writing Centre one-on-one a 100%. With its help, I have realized my Canadian dream of obtaining a Chartered Professional Accountant designation - CPA and reached my potential.

- Sally Liao

I had a great experience with the Writing Centre. I became a better writer and now do personal journaling. I'm also getting different pens for my various types of writing. From note jotting to research papers, I improved substantially in writing. I see new angles and perspectives to better my sentence fluency. Very important factors required in writing. I hold the professionals in the Writing Centre in high regards. 

- Shivan Mahadeo

I have been in the Multilingual Studio for a few months. For me, it was a perfect opportunity to improve my writing and reading skills. As a mature student, whose first language is not English, I had a great experience with all the friendly lectures presented by Dunja Baus. She perfectly clarified different methods of writings in terms of how to organize an effective essay. Also, we learned how to focus on the topic of an assignment in order to make connections between the course materials and the current social issues. The Multilingual Studio not only helped me to improve my writing skills, but it also gave me more self confidence.

- Jila Mosapournegari

The Multilingual Studio is one of the must-have workshops you should take at York for your success in academic writing. Dunja is a highly knowledgeable and passionate instructor about academic writing skills. She is very enthusiastic and kept interested in students to make sure that we have a great learning experience. The studio has a small space with limited numbers of students so it efficiently provides a good environment for open discussions and interactions between learners and the instructor. The teaching material was carefully selected which helps diversify learners' reading and experience. Attending this workshop has been very beneficial to me. My reading and writing skills have been improved dramatically after taking the weekly workshops. Moreover, the studio inspired and allowed me to think more critically and analytically about my written work to attain my success in an academic environment.

- Wendy Pham

I had an amazing experience with the Writing Centre this winter semester. I returned to York University this term as a non-major to complete a few prerequisite courses to apply for my MSW, and having the Writing Centre made the process much less anxiety-inducing. The individuals I had to go over essays on topics with me which I had no previous experience writing about, definitely contributed to my success. Thank you for this opportunity.

- Marc-Anthony Racco

Throughout my three appointments with the writing instructor, she did an amazing job providing constructive feedback on my personal statement and curriculum vitae for graduate school applications. She provided me tips on key areas to portray in my application, made it much more organized/clear and allowed me to grow as a writer. The instructor was patient, polite and committed to helping me create the ideal graduate school application. Her guidance was a key part of my acceptance to my top choice graduate program, and I thank her for her help.

- Mathuran Ravishankar

I've used the Writing Centre and encouraged students to use their services. In my practice, I developed new tools for editing and enhancing clarity when discussing complex ideas. For my students, I have seen significant improvement in their ability to not only meet assignment requirements but exceed them after attending one-on-one sessions.

- Kira Smith

As a new student, I was worried about writing my first academic essay. In addition to taking advantage of the SPARK resources which were very helpful, I made three appointments with the Writing Centre to help me get started with my essay assignment, to review my progress halfway and to provide a final review. I found each instructor to be very helpful, approachable and friendly. They encouraged me, were interested in my particular assignment and provided great feedback with rationale. I learned something during each appointment. I would highly recommend this service and plan to use it again.

- Sharon-Ann Tracy

I had an amazing experience with the Writing Centre.

- Saeid Vafa

I can proudly say I have written over 7,000 words for my dissertation - including a complete chapter draft. More importantly, I have gained invaluable knowledge and skills that I can continually apply throughout the summer and into the 2021-22 academic year to ensure that I maintain this momentum of dissertation progress. I am extremely happy and grateful to have completed this program in my third-year of doctoral studies, since I have been able to proactively address my insecurities about writing/research early on to ensure that I complete my degree on time. I would highly recommend the Thesis Writing Cafe to any doctoral student working on their dissertation, regardless of age, year of study, or professional/academic experience. While the virtual format certainly differs from an in-person setting, Keith made all of the necessary efforts to uphold the authenticity and effectiveness of the program. In fact, the reality of remote study ushered by the pandemic made the Thesis Writing Cafe all the more important and beneficial.

- Davis Vallesi