Prepare for Your Appointment
What to Expect
Most sessions only require 30 minutes. If you are not sure whether to choose a 30-
or 60-minute session, please email our Coordinators for advice.
In each session, we offer conversation, questions, feedback, and strategies to help
you improve your writing. We recommend that you visit us more than once as you work
through drafts of your writing.
Sessions may vary depending upon your needs but will often consist of the following:
During the session, you will introduce yourself and your writing project, develop
a goal for the session, and take one or two steps toward improving your work as a
writer. Near the end of the session, you'll summarize your work and plan for next
steps.
You will receive a session report over email. If you would like an instructor to receive
evidence of a visit, you will need to request that we send the report to the instructor.
We don't send session reports to instructors without your permission.
Prepare for Your Appointment
• Please fill out the appointment form on WCONLINE accurately, including your Blue
Chip Card number. If you are visiting our physical location, please bring your Blue
Chip card to your appointment for verification.
• You do not need to have anything written to meet with us, but bring any writing
you have produced so far. Most face-to-face sessions work best with printed copies
of your writing, but we understand that printing is expensive, so it's OK to bring
a laptop or tablet to review your work.
• If your appointment is online, our software allows you to upload your writing to
a digital whiteboard.
• We will not print out papers in the Writing Center.
• If there is an assignment sheet, please bring it to your session.
• If the writing is not for a course, you are still welcome to meet with us!
• Be ready to work actively during the session.
• Come in with 1-2 specific goals in mind. If you're not sure what you want to work
on, we can help you figure that out.
• While we are happy to help with grammar and sentence structure, we do not edit or
proofread papers. However, we can help you learn more about how to spot and correct
errors.
CCSU Writing Center Expectations
• You may book one appointment per day. Walk-ins are always welcome with the understanding
that we may be booked. We start appointments on the hour or half-hour (e.g., 9:00
or 9:30). See "Make an Appointment" for information about our waitlist.
• For a long project, we recommend that you book a series of appointments. You will
be able to schedule appointments on WCONLINE through finals week.
• Please come to your appointment 5 minutes before your scheduled time. If you are
online, an admninistrative assistant will pop into the appointment to make sure you
are there and double-check your appointment details.
• We will work with one piece of writing per appointment.
• For Instructors: We will not work with students on take-home exams without permission
from the instructor. The instructor should email the Writing Center Director at afields@ccsu.edu
to give this permission.
• For Instructors: If a student chooses to send evidence of a visit, you will receive
the session report over email. If you require visits, it is up to the student to send
you the session report, which is automatically sent to the student. If students lose
their session reports, we're happy to re-send them to the student over email. The
student can always contact us to request that the report be sent to a particular instructor
or advisor.
• For Instructors: If you require visits, please be aware that there are certain times
of the semester when students may not find openings in the schedule. We find that
students who are encouraged rather than required to visit the Writing Center tend
to get the most from our services.