Online Consultant

The MIT Online Writing Consultant is an alternative method of receiving advice about your text (e.g., a paper for a course, a thesis chapter, an article for a journal, a letter, an application essay).

As with on-site consultations at the Center, you may submit any type of writing at any stage of the writing process.

If you are unable to come physically to the Center, you may email your text to us. Please limit your submission to 1000 words; if your text is longer than that, select the 1000-word section that most concerns you. One of the Center's professional writing consultants will read and make comments about that text. These comments will give you an overview of the text's strengths and weaknesses and may suggest an in-person visit to the Center for additional consultation.

These comments will be returned to you as soon as possible, normally within 2 business days (48 hours). During peak periods of face-to-face tutoring, however, the turnaround time may be longer since there will be no staff member available to read on-line submissions.

Please note that the Center's mission is to provide instruction rather than proofreading or editing. The Online Consultant service is one of the ways in which we fulfill this purpose. The Online Consultant does not replace the one-on-one, face-to-face consulting that is the hallmark of the Center. Without question, face-to-face consultations remain the most effective method for teaching writing. However, the Online Consultant is an effective substitute when face-to-face tutoring is not possible. It will supplement such consultations and, in some cases, will serve as a preliminary review of texts before they are brought to the Center for a more in-depth consultation.

Please email your paper or text to <writing-center@mit.edu>. To be safe, please copy-and-paste your document into the email itself AND attach it as a WORD document as well.

Please put "Submission" in the subject line.

In that email, please include all of the following information:

1. Your first name

2. Your last nameYour r

3. Your native language

4. Your MIT Major or Department Affliation

5. Your academic status (e.g., first-year student, sophomore, junior, senior, graduate student, alumnus/a, staff, faculty, post-doc, visiting scientist or scholar).

6. If you are a spouse, please indicate that fact and list both your spouse's name and the MIT deparment or affliation with which your spouse is affliated.

6. Any specific concerns or questions you have about your text.

7. If your text is a paper for a course, please give the course number (for our end-of-the-year statistics).