Writing Services Policies & Procedures

Working your shift

All tutors scheduled to cover the Writing Lab must work your full shift.
Professional Consultants, Teaching Assistants, and Interns must always work your full shifts, whether you are in the Lab or not and whether you have appointments or not.
Paid Tutors who are not scheduled in the Writing Lab do not have to work your Writing Center shift if you have no appointments scheduled.
- All tutors receive an e-mail each evening after 9:30pm detailing your appointments for the next day. You can also check TutorTrac anytime after 9:30pm to see if you have any appointments scheduled for the next day.
- If you have no appointments, you should not plan on coming to work.
- If you have some appointments, but your entire shift is not covered, you must work when you have appointments, but you do not have to work your entire shift.
- (OWLs will be scheduled one day after they are received, so they will not impact your schedule after you have confirmed your shift the night before.)
- This policy may change! During busy times of the semester, when we receive many OWLs and the Writing Lab is very busy, you may be asked to work all of your shifts whether you have appointments scheduled or not. Your flexibility during these busy times is appreciated.

Schedule coverage

Be here when you are scheduled to be here! When creating the permanent schedule, preferences are taken into consideration, but coverage is the priority. For this reason, your flexibility about your schedule is appreciated.
All tutors are responsible for working their assigned hours.
In the case of an illness or other emergency, call the front desk immediately (962-7623 and/or 962-7857). Also, immediately post a request for coverage on the listserv.
Even if you are just going to be a few minutes late, call the front desk (962-7623 and/or 962-7857)!
Shift coverage is especially important for the Writing Lab since students drop in for help and cannot be notifed ahead of time if no tutor is available.
Advance requests for time off should be posted to the listserv AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. In these cases, it is your responsibility to find coverage for your shifts!
Always let Carol know about any schedule changes!

When You Are Working

When you arrive for your shift, clock in at the lobby laptop. Always check your mailbox in the storage closet and get your name card for the tutoring room door-slot. Your tutoring room assignment will be posted on the small whiteboard in the storage closet (this is the room you need to use!).
If you're scheduled in the Writing Lab, go to the Lab and relieve the tutor ahead of you.
If you're doing Writing Center appointments, after you're settled into your tutor room, go to the lobby to meet your first tutee. After each appointment, go up front to greet your next appointment.
Let reception know when you are leaving. If you are working a closing shift, be sure to shut down the laptop in your room and put the mouse, power chord, and flashdrive in the box on the shelf in the storage closet!

Writing Center Appointment Time

Keep track of the time of your session using the time on the computer.
All Writing appointments are scheduled for one hour. Typically, you will work with a student for about 50 minutes, and have a few minutes to write up your notes between appointments.
Sometimes an hour flies by and doesn't seem like nearly enough time with a student - even a student who just wants help brainstorming and has no paper! Other times, the hour seems to drag. Here are some suggestions for how to best utilize the time you have with a student: Ideas for Appointments (PDF).

Writing Center Appointment Guidelines

All appointments must be made by students 24 hours in advance. If no appointment has been made, you likely will not have to work your shift (see 'Working Your Shift' above).
You will recieve an e-mail notification when a student schedules an appointment and each evening after 9:30 pm you'll receive a summary of appointments scheduled for the next day.
No-shows. Tutors are expected to give students 15 minutes to show up; you should spend this time in the lobby waiting for the student. If the student no-shows, go to the Writing Lab and help there until your next appointment or, if it is your last appointment for the day, check with Carol or Will about leaving early. Evenings and Sundays, check with the Lab tutor before leaving early.

Writing Center Consultation Form

This form is given to the student by the receptionist; it is primarily the student’s responsibility to complete this form. All students with a Writing Center appointment should fill out a consultation form.
The student will give you the form when they come back for their consultation. You should review the top part of the form and make sure you address the student’s questions at some point during the consultation.
As the consultation begins to wind down, hand the form back to the student and ask them to fill in the bottom two boxes. You can enter your TutorTrac notes while they do this, though they might want to talk with you about the questions and you should feel free to help them develop answers.
When the student is finished and has signed the form, review what they’ve written (discuss anything pertinent), and make any notes that you feel are important. Remember, this is a public document that the student will likely share with her/his instructor. Sign off on the form.
Give the student the form and tell them that they can turn in the form with their paper if they want their instructor to know they came to the Writing Center for a consultation.

Request for Recurring Appointments

We want to encourage students to make use of Writing Services as a regular part of their writing process. When you are working with a student who will have other writing assignments during the semester, it might be a good idea for them to set up recurring appointments with you (or another tutor). This ensures that the student has her or his times reserved and that they are working with a tutor they have a good rapport with.
In each of the tutoring rooms are "Request for Recurring Tutoring" forms. When a student indicates that they would be interested in recurring appointments, use this form to set it up. Students can schedule weekly, bi-weekly, or sporadic (when they have papers due) recurring appointments.
After filling out the form, give it to Carol or the student front desk worker. These recurring appointments must be scheduled by Carol, so make sure she gets the form!
Occasionally, a student will come into the Writing Services office knowing that they want recurring appointments. In this case, Carol will schedule these appointments based on the student's availability. If you are the tutor the student is scheduled with, Carol will notify you.

Writing Lab Drop-In Form

This form is in the Lab on the tables and looks very much like the Writing Center Consultation Form (which is why we print them in different colors!).
Students are not required to fill out this form and should only do so IF they want their instructor to know about their visit. It is your job to let students know this and to tell them to note the time they arrived on the form.
This form is designed, like the Writing Center Consultation Form, to encourage students to reflect on their writing process. It also provides the instructor with information about how much time a student spent in the Writing Lab. If you worked with a student OR if the student can show you some of the independent work they accomplished in the Writing Lab, you should sign off on the form.
The student should take the form with them and turn it in with the final draft they submit to their instructor.

No Copying or Printing!

Do not make copies of teacher assignments – we are on a tight printing budget at ULC!
Do not print student papers! If the student forgets to bring a printed copy of his/her paper, you can work with the paper electronically on the laptop or s/he can go to the DePaolo Hall lobby and print the paper using iPrint.

All other ULC Policies apply to Writing Tutors!

TutorTrac for Writing Tutors