You can meet face-to-face with a Writing Center Tutor in our Lincoln Park and Loop offices, and you can receive online support by email and over instant messaging. We also have Outpost locations at both campuses where no appointment is necessary.
Here you’ll find information about the types of appointments that the Writing Center offers, as well as instructions for making your appointment.
Appointment Types
Which appointment works best for you?
[spoiler title=”Face-to-Face” open=”0″ style=”1″]Here’s what happens in a Face-to-Face appointment:
- You’re in charge of the direction of the appointment, so before you arrive, try to prepare questions for your Writing Center Tutor or some goals for the tutorial.
- We will usually read your paper out loud. Reading your paper out loud helps you to catch errors or places where you may want to revise. Many writers—including us tutors!—find that this strategy is useful.
- Your appointment will involve a conversation between you and your tutor. Your Writing Center Tutor will ask you questions, and you should be ready to ask your tutor some questions in return.
- To bring any applicable materials, including your writing prompt, draft, and any sources, such as an essay or book to which you are responding.
- To bring a ZIP or USB drive with you if you have your paper or other materials saved electronically.
- Your Writing Center Tutor not to proofread or correct your paper. While your Writing Center Tutor will assist you with grammar if you ask, don’t expect line-by-line corrections. Your Writing Center Tutor will instead focus on patterns of error, explaining the issues so you can identify and correct these errors in the future.
- Your Writing Center Tutor not to evaluate your writing or predict your grades.
- To work on prewriting, brainstorming, working under pressure, improving grammar, and other aspects of writing if you do not have a draft or a particular assignment.
- Your Writing Center Tutor to work with you on any type of writing. However, remember that your Writing Center Tutor is a fellow writer and learner who may not have studied in the same field as you. Citation styles change frequently, and each writing assignment has unique requirements. Expect to consult resources with your Writing Center Tutor if necessary.
Guidelines for receiving Written Feedback by Email:
- Please visit WCOnline in order to upload your paper. Documents uploaded for Written Feedback must be in .DOC and .DOCX format only.
- One-hour Written Feedback appointments have a 10-page maximum, 1.5-hour appointments a 15-page maximum, and 2-hour appointments a 20-page maximum (all double-spaced).
- If you want your Writing Center Tutor to look at a specific part of your paper (e.g. pages 7-16 in a 20-page essay), please indicate the page range in the “What would you like to work on today?” box in the appointment window.
- Please give your Writing Center Tutor as much information about the assignment as possible.
For Written Feedback by Email Appointments, you can expect:
- To determine the direction of the sessions. Please fill out the “Make an Appointment” window completely, including a detailed description of your assignment, and what you would like the tutor to focus on. You should prepare questions or goals for your Writing Center Tutor before you submit the paper.
- Your Writing Center Tutor’s Written Feedback by Email to engage you in a dialogue about your paper. Your Writing Center Tutor will ask you questions in the marginal comments and will try to get you thinking about what you would like to revise.
- To attach any applicable materials to the appointment, including your writing prompt, draft, and any sources, such as an article you are citing in your paper.
- Your Writing Center Tutor not to proofread or correct your paper. While your Writing Center Tutor will assist you with grammar if you ask, don’t expect line-by-line corrections. Your Writing Center Tutor will instead focus on patterns of error, explaining the issues so you can identify and correct these errors in the future.
- Your Writing Center Tutor not to evaluate your writing or predict your grades.
- To read both marginal and end comments from your tutor. We suggest printing out the Written Feedback by Email to better see all the comments your Writing Center Tutor has made on the draft.
- Your Writing Center Tutor to work with you on any type of writing. However, remember that your Writing Center Tutor is a fellow writer and learner who may not have studied in the same field as you. Citation styles change frequently, and each writing assignment has unique requirements. Expect to consult resources with your Writing Center Tutor if necessary.
Scheduling & Canceling Appointments
Make your appointment using our online scheduler, WCOnline, or by calling our offices.
Lincoln Park: 773-325-4272
Loop: 312-362-6726.
In order to provide the best possible service to as many writers as we can, we have the following guidelines:
- You may schedule up to 3 total hours of appointments per week. This can include any combination of Face-to-Face, Conversation Partner, Written Feedback, and IM/Webcam appointments as long as the total does not exceed 3 hours.
- You may schedule up to 2 hours of appointments per day.
- Written Feedback and IM/Webcam appointments must be at least 1 hour long. If you schedule either type of appointment for less than 1 hour, it will be canceled.
- For Written Feedback appointments, Writing Center Tutors will provide comments on 10 pages per hour maximum. If you submit a paper that is longer than 10 pages, you will need to specify which 10-page range you would like your Writing Center Tutor to review or schedule a 2-hour block of time (remember, you are limited to 2 hours of appointments per day).
- Appointment scheduling policies may change during final exams. Please refer to for any changes.
- You may cancel any appointment through WCOnline up to 24 hours before your appointment begins. After that point your appointment will be marked as missed.
- You may also cancel by calling either of our two offices.
Lincoln Park: 773-325-4272
Loop: 312-362-6726. - If you miss more than 3 appointments, your WCOnline account will be deactivated. Once your account has been deactivated, and you will only be able to have Writing Center appointments on a walk-in basis. To discuss having your account reactivated, please contact Liz Coughlin, Writing Center Program Director, at ecoughli[at]depaul.edu or 773-325-4273.
- If you are more than 10 minutes late for an appointment without notifying us, your appointment will be marked as missed.
- If we must cancel your appointment, we will notify you as soon as possible to offer you either an alternate Writing Center Tutor or an alternate time slot.
Using WCOnline
Using WCOnline
The Writing Center uses WCOnline,a web-based application, for our appointment scheduling. Once you have registered and logged in, you will be able to view a schedule of available appointment times and tutors. Please read the Writing Center’s policies before scheduling your first appointment.
How to register for WCOnline
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QLLvDOakHc&w=475&h=267]How to make a Face-to-Face appointment
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEE5HX_giIo&w=475&h=267]How to make a Conversation Partner appointment
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0etv63ly50&w=475&h=267]How to make a Written Feedback appointment
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ei47aD8e2U&w=475&h=267]Registering
1) Go to WCOnline.
2) If this is your first time on WCOnline, click on the link “Click Here to Register.”
3) You must fill out all required fields to continue.
4) Once all fields on the form have been entered, click on “Register.” To schedule an appointment, return to the WCOnline main page and log in.
Note: You will need to re-register at the start of every academic year.
Schedule an Appointment
1) Please read the Writing Center’s policies before scheduling your appointment.
2) Go directly to WCOnline.
3) Select a campus (Lincoln Park or Loop) below the log-in box, then log in.
4) You will be taken to the schedule for the current week, and it will show the campus that you selected when logging in. To change campuses, simply use the drop-down menu above the schedule. To change the week, use the links below the drop-down menu. The tutors available during a given time slot will have white schedule blocks in the row beside their names. You can view a tutor’s bio when you click on any white schedule block and use this information to schedule an appointment with someone of a certain writing expertise.
5) Once you know the day, time, location, and tutor you would like to work with, click on the appropriate white schedule block. A new window will now appear. If there are no available appointments during the time you would like, you may either visit our Outposts or click on the clock button to add your name to the wait list.*
6) Use the drop down boxes to adjust the length of your appointment, keeping in mind the minimum appointment lengths: Face-to-Face, 30 minutes; Written Feedback by Email, 1 hour; Online, 1 hour; and Conversation Partner, 30 minutes.
7) Choose a type of appointment (Face-to-Face, Written Feedback by Email, Online, or Conversation Partner) from the drop-down list.
8) Give a detailed description of your assignment as well as a summary of your main concerns. (You can also attach your assignment prompt or any relevant materials after you save the appointment). Your tutor will use this information to prepare for your tutorial.
9) Click “Save Appointment” to make your appointment.
10) For Written Feedback by Email: Once you have made an appointment, you will be redirected to a page where you will have the opportunity to upload one document in .DOC or .DOCX format. After you have finished uploading the document, please click the “Attach File” button to successfully complete the process. If you would like to upload more than one document, you will need to click on the appointment you just made (it will appear in gold) in the schedule, reopening the “Make an Appointment” window. Click “Save Changes” and it will redirect you to the same page with an opportunity to upload one more document in .DOC or .DOCX format. Click “Attach File,” and repeat this process until you have uploaded all of the documents your Writing Center Tutor will need for your appointment.
* The wait-list feature allows writers to automatically receive an email notification or text message when an appointment has been cancelled on a given day. So, if you don’t see any openings on the day you want to come in, click on the clock button and either click “Add to Waiting List” to receive an email notification, or enter your cell phone email address to receive a text message. When there is a cancellation, you will be notified. At this point you will need to sign back into WCOnline and make the appointment as usual–the wait-list DOES NOT automatically make an appointment for you.
