Appointments
The writing center is by appointment only. Please sign up for an appointment here.
Location
Savery Hall, Room 362
Third floor (across from the elevators)
Contact us at philwrit@uw.edu.
"Our mission is to help students at all levels of writing build skills to become more confident and effective writers in any context that requires clear, concise, and direct writing. We are collaborative and aim to have a long-term impact."
What We Do
The Philosophy Writing Center is a unique, FREE resource for students wanting to improve their philosophical writing. Our aim is to help students build skills needed to become confident and effective writers.
We offer one-on-one tutoring sessions. Students can bring in any kind of writing—reflection papers, short or long essays, summaries, commentaries, formal arguments, graduate school application materials, etc.—for any class or project. Or, students can schedule a tutoring-session to work on specific writing skills independent of any particular assignment.
We work with students at all writing levels, from beginning to advanced, and are happy to help with any stage or skill of writing, from brainstorming to final revisions. We are especially committed to supporting students from underrepresented social backgrounds.
How to Make the Most of Your Session
Consultation sessions are 40 minutes.
- Come early in the quarter and come often. Students can get much more out of the writing center by building an ongoing relationship with tutors.
- Have at least some sense of what part of the writing process you want to focus on—i.e. brainstorming, organization, revising, etc.
- We can best help you with your writing when you have a good understanding of the material that you are writing about. If you are not feeling confident with the content of the course, stopping by your instructor's or TA's office hours before you come to your session can be helpful.
- Plan time for revision. We are happy to work with you at any time, but having time to reflect, revise, and ask follow up questions can be particular helpful as you work on your writing.
Who are we?
Supervisor
Aaron Barker
Tutors
Our tutors are undergraduate philosophy majors with special training in tutoring. They have a great diversity and depth of writing experience and are excited to work with you!
Rylan Garwood is a senior majoring in philosophy and psychology. He is primarily interested in metaethics and normative ethics. In particular, he enjoys researching questions surrounding the objectivity and demandingness of ethics. He also has interests in philosophy for children, animal ethics, disability ethics, philosophy of science, and metaphilosophy. Outside of philosophy, he practices the piano and overanalyzes his favorite movies.
Jessica Li is a senior majoring in Philosophy. She is primarily interested in metaphysics, and particularly in its intersections with the topics of essence, grounding, the perception of time, personal identity, natural language ontology, and cognitive science. Outside of metaphysics, she is also interested in epistemology and philosophy of mind, especially their overlaps concerning the topic of memory.
Other Resources for Writing Philosophy Papers
- How to Write Philosophy Papers
- A Brief Guide to Writing the Philosophy Paper
- Guidelines on Writing a Philosophy Paper
- Sample Philosophy Paper
- Guidelines for Paper Structure
- Guidelines for Introductions
- Guidelines for Conclusions
- Guidelines for Charitability
- Guidelines for Objections
- Guidelines for Citing and Plagiarism
- Guidelines for Paper Exegesis
Writing Tips and Guides from UW Philosophy Instructors
Other Resources for Writing Philosophy Papers
- Academic Phrasebank (University of Manchester, UK) - a general resource for academic writing in English
Interested in joining our Philosophy Writing Center team as a tutor?
Writing Center tutors are typically hired late in late summer before the academic year begins. The undergraduate adviser will send an announcement out to the undergraduate email list when positions become available. Tutors usually commit to the full academic year and are expected to work between 4-8 hours per week. The hourly rate as of January 2022 is $16.69/hour.