Writing Mentorships

Reach your writing goals with a Writing Mentorship. This program gives you the opportunity to work with a writing mentor over the course of the semester in weekly or bi-weekly appointments. A writing mentor can offer you ongoing support as you develop your writing skills and work towards your goals. Writing Mentorships are especially helpful for students who are working on long-term or complex writing projects such as:

  • Senior theses
  • Dissertations or master’s theses
  • Capstone projects
  • Graduate school applications
  • Papers from classes with heavy writing loads

Most mentorships will begin in weeks 4-6 of the semester.

How to apply

The priority deadline for submitting an interest form for a Fall 2026 Writing Mentorship has passed. If you would like to be notified when the interest form becomes available for Spring 2027 Writing Mentorships, please note your name and email address below:

Notify me when the Writing Mentorship Interest Form becomes available:

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How a Writing Mentorship can support your writing

  • Consistent appointments: meet with a Writing Mentor every week or every-other-week during one semester.
  • Choice in modality: we offer mentors who can meet with you in-person or online through Virtual Meetings or Written Feedback.
  • Writing Feedback: your mentor will review your drafts and work collaboratively with you to create a plan for revision based on your goals.
  • Sustained encouragement: your mentor will help you create a plan for accomplishing your writing tasks and will check in with you about these goals throughout the semester.

If you have any questions about Writing Mentorships, please email Dr. Lisa Marvel Johnson at lmjohnson32@wisc.edu.

If you would like to learn more about our Writing Mentorship program, please visit The Writing Mentorship Handbook for Writing Center Students.

Testimonials from students who have had a Writing Mentorship:

“The most effective aspect of the mentorship included receiving guidance on setting up the questions of the chapter and ensuring that I focus on weaving the argument throughout the paper. It was also very helpful to have a weekly check-in (which required meeting goals for each session). This program is probably the best program that I’ve found for writing dissertations. I honestly have no idea where I would be right now without it. Not only have I made significant progress on my dissertation since I started this program six months ago but I have also become much more confident about sharing my research with others and with reading aloud my work. I went into this program with hope to get some feedback on my chapters but I have gained a lot more.” 

“It was a wonderful semester and I had great progress. To be honest, when I started my mentorship I never thought I would be able to accomplish so much like I did. I finish my entire literature review (50 pages), my introduction, chapter 5, and part of chapter 3 in only 2 months of mentorship!!!!”