Appointment Types

Writing Center Tutors work with writers—individually or in groups—on different types of projects across multiple disciplines and media. Throughout all our work—in Face-to-Face appointments, Written Feedback appointments, Online Realtime appointments, and writing groups—we emphasize collaboration, writing, and revision.

We help writers develop awareness of their own process(es) as they navigate different exigencies. In each appointment, your tutor will work with you to collaboratively set an agenda focused on one, two, or three specific topics for revision.

The Writing Center also serves as DePaul’s official source of student support for ePortfolios.

Specific details about each type of appointment the Writing Center offers are described below.

For further information, please see our Writing Center policies.

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Face-to-Face Appointments

Whatever your project and wherever you are in the process, you can visit us in-person at the Lincoln Park Campus or the Loop Campus for face-to-face help.

How A Face-To-Face Appointment Works

  • Bring any materials you need to the appointment, such as your draft, prompt, and/or any sources you’re using.
  • In order for our tutors to provide thorough feedback, please consider your priorities for revision when determining the length of your appointment. We’re able to work on:
    • 4 double-spaced pages of writing per 30 minutes
    • 8 double-spaced pages of writing per 1 hour
    • 12 double-spaced pages of writing per 1.5 hours
    • 16 double-spaced pages of writing per 2 hours
  • Your tutor will work with you to determine what you will spend time working on during the appointment, so before you arrive, try to prepare questions for your Writing Center Tutor or some goals for the tutorial.
  • Expect to try our core practice of reading aloud: you (or the tutor, if you prefer) will usually read your draft out loud. Many writers—including us tutors!—find that this strategy is useful, particularly when looking for content or patterns of error to revise and readability for an audience.
  • You may also work on prewriting, brainstorming, working under pressure, improving grammar, and other aspects of writing, even if you do not have a draft or a particular assignment.

Online Realtime Appointments

Online appointments allow you to meet with a tutor remotely in real time and get the same quality feedback as though you were sitting face to face. You’ll meet your Writing Center Tutor online in a chatroom and/or via Webcam within WCOnline, our scheduling platform.

How An Online Realtime Appointment Works

  • Online Realtime appointments can be between 30 minutes and 2 hours. In order for our tutors to provide thorough feedback, please consider your priorities for revision when determining the length of your appointment. We’re able to work on:
    • 4 double-spaced pages of writing per .5 hour
    • 8 double-spaced pages of writing per 1 hour
    • 12 double-spaced pages of writing per 1.5 hours
    • 16 double-spaced pages of writing per 2 hours
  • To meet your tutor online, log back onto WCOnline and select the red link that says, “Start or Join Online Consultation” from your appointment window approximately 5 to 10 minutes before the start of your appointment.

  • You and your tutor can review the paper together and make changes to it in real-time in a collaborative rich-text editor. You can upload the paper or simply copy and paste the text into the editor.

  • You’re in charge of the direction of the appointment, so before you meet online, try to prepare questions for your Writing Center Tutor or some goals for the tutorial.

  • You may also work on prewriting, brainstorming, working under pressure, improving grammar, and other aspects of writing, even if you do not have a draft or a particular assignment.

Online Realtime Appointments

Written Feedback Appointments

In a Written Feedback Appointment, you can receive feedback on your work no matter where you are or when you’re free. You submit your project electronically and our tutors review it and email it back to you with feedback. Your tutor will write a summary letter and leave comments in the margins that you can review at your own pace.

When you make your appointment, you can attach any applicable materials to the appointment, including your writing prompt, draft, and any sources, such as an article you’re citing, to help your tutor better help you.

How A Written Feedback Appointment Works

  • Access WCOnline to submit your paper. For Written Feedback appointments, we can only work with editable file types (e.g. .docx, .xlsx, .pptx, .rtf).

  • A Written Feedback appointment must have a minimum time of 60 minutes (1 hour) in order to allow time for your tutor to access and read your draft before offering comprehensive feedback.
  • In order for our tutors to provide thorough feedback, please consider your priorities for revision when determining the length of your appointment. We’re able to work on:
    • 8 double-spaced pages of writing per 1 hour
    • 12 double-spaced pages of writing per 1.5 hours
    • 16 double-spaced pages of writing per 2 hours
  • If you want your tutor to review a specific part of your paper (e.g. pages 8–15 in a 20-page draft for a one-hour appointment), you’ll need to indicate the page range when you make your appointment. Otherwise, the tutor will start their review at the beginning of your document.
  • When you set up your appointment, make sure to give your tutor as much information about the assignment or project as possible, including the kind of help you’re interested in, such as feedback on how the draft follows the project requirements or how you develop your argument, help with developing content or a counter-argument, suggestions for how to organize your draft or a particular section of it, or feedback on recurring issues with particular aspects of grammar or punctuation.
Written Feedback Appointments