Talia Gray, Features Editor

  Photo from Communication Lab Instagram. 

This is the first installment of a Features series on the various campus resources available to students here at UNCG. Each installment will be based on an interview with a representative from the given office in an effort to demystify these integral parts of our campus community. In today’s installment, we will focus on the university’s Communication Lab.  

The Communication Lab is a student support service located in MHRA 3211 (the Moore Humanities Research and Administration building). I sat down with Nora Webb, who is the Graduate Assistant Director of the Communication Lab, as well as a former writing consultant. Nora described herself as “a believer in collaboration while maintaining agency” as she explained her motivations for working in the Communication Lab; I would imagine her attitude to be a virtue in an environment that necessitates collaboration at its core.  

What is the Communication Lab?  

According to the Communication Lab’s website, it “focuses on both speaking and writing, and provides communication support for students, faculty, and staff through one-on-one and group sessions focusing on dialogic feedback.”  During our conversation, Nora explained that each session is “based in conversation” between the author and the consultant. Nora expounds on these general functions and clarifies, “Our main job is to give people a supportive space where they can talk through their ideas, get feedback, and take ownership of their work. We’re not here to ‘fix’ things or make everyone sound the same. We’re not a proofreading service.” The Communication Lab takes on a holistic approach to supporting the authors differentiating their services from that of copy editor  but Nora also assures, “…if you have a highly technical question about a citation style or commas or my beloved em dash, your consultant will either know the answer and explain it or show you where to find the answer and talk through it with you”. The consultants at the Communication Lab offer support across various types of communication with the hope, “you walk out with useful feedback, new strategies, a plan to move forward, and ideally more confidence in yourself as an author”. 

Offering Personal Support  

The personal nature of the work within the Communication Lab was an ever-present throughline as I spoke with Nora. When asked how the Communication Lab differed from the typical peer review experience Nora stressed “What makes our consultants different from a peer you’ve chosen from class or a friend group is that our consultants are authors who’ve practiced strong communication skills and built good habits over a lifetime of writing and speaking, know that the writing process is not always easy or fun but it’s always valuable, and they’ve been trained in our author-centered, agency-prioritized philosophy.” She goes on to assert, “Our whole focus is on your goals and what you want your project to do.” Consultants in the lab are trained to work closely with authors to provide encouragement and support as they work toward the author’s vision.  

Communication (written or verbal) can be a sensitive topic for many, but Nora affirms that the Communication Lab is a safe space to share. She explains, “I know all too well that it can feel intimidating or even vulnerable to present something you’ve composed to someone you don’t know, but once you sit down, you’ve got 45 minutes with a person whose job it is to understand your goals, talk through what achieving them looks like, and make a plan to move forward.” Nora shared that she empathizes and understands one’s hesitancy to seek out this type of service as she recounts her own experiences (she regularly visits the Communication Lab for work she has authored): “I am a person with anxiety and a student with imposter syndrome, and I never leave a session …feeling bad. I always leave feeling like I have accomplished something, and I know what to do next. ” Nora urges any member of the UNCG campus community to visit the Communication Lab as they will be met with consultants who are there to assist them with a variety of projects.  

Who Should Come Visit? 

The Communication Lab is open and available to students, faculty, and staff here at UNCG at any point of the writing process. According to Nora, “You do not have to have a draft. You do not have to have anything written down. If you have an assignment and you don’t know where to start, but you have access to the assignment sheet, we are still here to help.” As the semester progresses, consider visiting the Communication Lab for support. If you’re wondering if the task at hand is worth a visit, Nora guarantees that it probably is as she confirms, “If it involves communication, we’re here to help. I’m not saying our consultants will help you draft a text to your crush, but also, Valentine’s Day is coming up…” 

You may make an in-person or remote appointment with the Communication Lab by clicking this link.   They also accept walk-ins! The lab’s hours of operation are 9:00am -7pm Monday-Thursday, 9:00 a.m.-12 p.m. on Fridays and 3:00 p.m.-6:00 p.m. on Sundays. For more information visit their website or contact them via email (commlab@uncg.edu).  

If you’re an author working on a long-term project (thesis, dissertation, novel, semester-long paper, etc.), you might benefit from the Communication Lab’s Advanced Author Support Program, where you’re paired with the same consultant and meet with them regularly throughout the semester. For more information, contact aasp@uncg.edu.