Writing Services Policies and Procedures
Saint Louis University students receiving support from University Writing Services must adhere to policies and procedures set by the writing center. Procedures also vary depending on whether your appointment is in-person, online (asynchronous) or via Zoom.
These free services begin on the first day of classes and will continue until the last day of final exams every semester. UWS will be closed during Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Wellness Day in February, Spring Break, Easter Break, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, 4th of July, Labor Day, Wellness Day in September, Fall Break, and Thanksgiving in accordance with the SLU Academic Calendar. UWS will also be closed after the last day of summer classes up until the first day of the fall semester for professional development and training.
General Policies and Procedures
- UWS will be open both in-person and virtually Sunday through Friday with morning, afternoon, and evening options (generally from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.).
- The writing center offers in-person, asynchronous, and Zoom appointments (three different modalities).
- These one-on-one appointments are available to all SLU undergraduate and graduate students.
- Every one-hour appointment includes up to 50-minutes of brainstorming or content-based feedback (for assistance with class assignments, conference papers, cover letters, dissertation chapters, English 1900 dissoi logoi projects, group projects, literature reviews, multimedia assignments, personal statements, publications, seminar papers, senior capstone projects, short answer questions on applications, speeches, and thesis chapters) followed by a five-minute survey.
- Consultants help with writing projects from any department or field. They respond as readers.
- Consultants offer support on any stage of the writing process (e.g., brainstorming, outlining, proposing research questions, forming hypotheses, developing arguments, integrating sources, creating citations, revising, implementing comments, and formatting).
- Consultants will provide feedback on four to seven double-spaced pages, depending on the project density.
- All appointments can be scheduled through EAB Navigate - Student located under Applications on the Okta Dashboard (after logging into the mySLU portal).
- All appointments start on the hour (e.g., at 1 p.m. and not 1:15 p.m.).
- All appointments take place in Central Time (CT).
- Maximum of three appointments per week. Repeat visits are encouraged.
- No back-to-back appointments permitted; however, students can schedule two appointments in one day if there is at least one hour in between them.
- Consultants cannot read projects before designated appointment times.
- Students should bring the instructor’s prompt, if applicable, or the directions for the project with them to the appointments, along with the rubric or any relevant criteria.
- Consultants do not line edit, but they do help with recurring grammar and syntax mistakes.
- Group projects are permitted. Either the leader or a designated member of the group should schedule the appointment and then add the other participants’ names in the comments box.
- For last-minute ‘walk-ins’ (within one hour or less) especially during midterms and finals, send an email to writing@slu.edu or visit any writing center location before the start of the hour. Note that hours of operation vary by location. The Busch Student Center 331 offers the greatest availability as it remains open Sundays and weekday evenings.
- Writing center appointments are considered private. However, consultants can send a confirmation email to SLU faculty, staff or the appropriate UWS campus partner when the student 1) initiates the request, 2) grants the consultant permission to share information, and 3) remains in the session for a minimum of 20 minutes of the scheduled one-hour appointment.
- If necessary, students must cancel their appointment before the scheduled time (i.e., before the start of the hour) so that others can book the time slot. Start by logging into the mySLU portal → locate and open the app called EAB Navigate – Student → select Appointments in the navigation menu → under Upcoming, look for the correct writing consultation and click on the link → scroll down and hit Cancel Appointment → choose a Reason and add any Comments → confirm by hitting the Cancel Appointment button.
- Alternatively, students can send an email to writing@slu.edu requesting to cancel their upcoming appointment and the writing center staff will process the cancellation on their behalf.
- Consultants will wait up to 15 minutes (after the start of the hour) for students who are running late before marking the appointment as missed. However, the amount of feedback may be reduced due to the condensed session (e.g., reviewing three to four, instead of four to seven, double-spaced pages within the allotted time).
- After three missed appointments or "no-shows," the student in question will be temporarily blocked from EAB Navigate - Student and will need to meet with a UWS administrator to reinstate their writing center privileges. Otherwise, the restriction will stay in effect until the start of the following semester.
For more information and resources, visit the official UWS website or scan the QR code located at the bottom of the fourth page. For questions regarding these policies or procedures, contact writing@slu.edu.
In-person appointments will take place on campus at one of the four writing center
locations:
- Busch Student Center (BSC) Suite 331
- Pius XII Memorial Library (PIUS) Room 320
- Trudy Busch Valentine School of Nursing (SON) Suite 114
- Chaifetz Arena Champions Center Student Success Suite (athletes only)
Remember to 1) write down the building and room number of your in-person appointment and 2) hit the “Schedule” button at the bottom of the EAB screen to complete your reservation.
BSC 331 is generally open 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., Sunday through Thursday. It is an active space shared by both writing consultants and tutors with study rooms for privacy and/or group projects. It is on the third floor of the building. After walking into the suite, you do not need to stop at the front desk. Turn right when you reach the sign that says "Tutoring and Writing Services". Look for your writing consultant’s name on the cubicle and study room whiteboards.
Note: There is a bulletin board in BSC 331 with photographs of the writing center staff to make it easier to find a specific writing consultant.
PIUS 320 is open during business hours of operation and weekday evenings. It is a quieter environment due to the size of the space and layout. It is in the Quiet Study Area on the third floor of the library, adjacent to the main stairwell.
SON 114 is open only during business hours of operation. It is a quieter environment due to the size and layout. It is inside the testing center on the first floor of the nursing building, near the main entrance.
Champions Center Student Success Suite is open on Tuesday evenings exclusively for student athletes. It is inside Chaifetz Arena by the sanctuary.
It is important to consider travel time. All locations are on North Campus except for the Trudy Busch Valentine School of Nursing building, which is located on South Campus.
No in-person appointments are available on Fridays at any location, but the writing center remains open remotely for asynchronous and Zoom appointments.
Online (asynchronous) consultations will take place entirely via email. The term “asynchronous” implies that you and the writing consultant will not be online simultaneously. There is no live interaction. Instead, the process involves two mandatory steps. You must first book an appointment and then subsequently fill out a Qualtrics survey, which will be referred to hereafter as the online submission form.
Remember to 1) hit the “Schedule" button at the bottom of the EAB screen to complete your reservation and 2) fill out the online submission form by attaching your project as a .doc or .docx file. Copy and paste the link into a new tab on your internet browser. You must complete the form before your designated appointment time; otherwise, you will be marked as a ‘no show’ and will need to reschedule.
You should receive two email confirmations (one from EAB Navigate - Student and one from Qualtrics) when the reservation and the form are successfully completed. No further action is needed.
The consultant will download your submission at your designated appointment time, make suggestions in the margins on four to seven double-spaced pages of the project, compose an email summary, and send you feedback (reattaching your project with their comments) by 10 p.m. on the same day.
Consultants will use Microsoft Word’s built-in comment function instead of track changes. You do not need to be present online to receive feedback.
For longer projects, you may schedule multiple asynchronous appointments. Be sure to submit the online submission form for each appointment and indicate a different starting point.
Zoom video conferences will take place in real time using audio-video conferencing software. These conferences can be conducted using a desktop computer or laptop (preferred) or tablet/smartphone app with limited functionality. For optimal performance, a stable internet connection is strongly recommended.
Remember to 1) save the link to the writing consultant’s virtual meeting room, which can be found under URL / Phone Number on the final confirmation page, and 2) hit the “Schedule” button at the bottom of the EAB screen to complete your reservation. The same link should also be automatically emailed to your SLU Outlook account. The same link should also be automatically emailed to your SLU Outlook account. You may also receive an email from your writing consultant with a Zoom invitation either before or immediately at the start of your appointment. This will serve as a reminder and/or as a contingency plan if there are any technological issues. For this reason, it is helpful to have your SLU Outlook account already open as you approach the beginning of the hour on the day of your scheduled appointment.
You must sign into Zoom on the day of your scheduled appointment to meet with your consultant at the designated time. Your device must have microphone accessibility. Webcam accessibility is strongly recommended.
Students are expected to treat the virtual environment the same as in-person environments. In accordance with university policy, students must be appropriately attired throughout the entire duration of the appointment.
No prior experience with Zoom is needed. The writing consultant will teach you how to screen share. Together, you will set goals and create an action plan using the chat function.
Troubleshooting for Your Zoom Appointment
Joining the Zoom Video Conference
When it is time for your appointment, paste the link to the writing consultant’s virtual meeting room into your internet browser.
Whether you arrive early or right on time, you will be placed in a waiting room. The screen will automatically change when the writing consultant initiates the conference.
Note: If the writing consultant does not email you with the Zoom Meeting ID or initiate the conference after five minutes past the start time of your appointment, please send an email to writing@slu.edu. The UWS administrative team will prioritize your issue during business hours of operation. They will do everything they can to resolve the problem by calling the writing consultant and/or reassigning your appointment to another staff member (based on availability).
Preparing for Your Zoom Video Conference
Just like an in-person appointment, you will need the following materials: The professor’s prompt and/or grading rubric (if applicable), your current writing project in a folder that can easily be found on your device, and any links to outside resources that you might want to discuss with the consultant.
Using the Zoom Video Conference Built-in Functions
Share: Click this button to select the internet browser, program, tab, or window on your device that you would like to share with the writing consultant.
Annotate: This option appears after sharing screen is enabled.
- Only the person who shares the screen can make edits within the actual document.
- The writing consultant can see your current writing project and make annotations (on top of the shared screen), which can be erased as needed.
- Make sure to save the annotations before scrolling to the next page or leaving the Zoom meeting at the end of the appointment.
Chat: Comment or ask questions if there are problems with the microphone or webcam.
- Send the document to the writing consultant if screen sharing does not work.
- Create a set of goals for the appointment. What do you want to accomplish in 50 minutes?
- Link to outside resources.
- Co-create an action plan with the writing consultant so that you have a to-do list after the appointment ends.
Troubleshooting
- What happens if you arrive early/on time and you are placed inside the waiting room?
- If you join first and the writing consultant has not yet arrived or they are busy wrapping up a previous appointment, just wait a few moments. The writing consultant will still be able to join the meeting after you. Note: If the writing consultant does not email you with the Zoom Meeting ID or initiate the conference after five minutes past the start time of your appointment, please send an email to writing@slu.edu. The UWS administrative team will prioritize your issue during business hours of operation. They will do everything they can to resolve the problem by calling the writing consultant and/or reassigning your appointment to another staff member (based on availability).
- What if you cannot hear or see yourself/the writing consultant?
- Check the lower left-hand corner of the Zoom toolbar to make sure your microphone and video are turned on.
- Send a message to the writing consultant through the chat function if you are still unable to hear or see them.
- What if you accidentally leave the appointment?
- Rejoin the meeting because the writing consultant will still be there.
- What if any other issues arise?
- Keep your SLU Outlook account open during your appointment to contact writing@slu.edu so that you can notify the consultant if you experience any unexpected issues with Zoom (and vice versa). The writing center has contingency plans in place should Zoom not function properly.
Please email any comments, concerns, or questions (including inquiries about walk-ins) to writing@slu.edu. Our mission is focused on self-directed learning. We want students to leave their appointments with a greater sense of purpose and confidence! We want to develop a community of critically conscientious writers on campus!