How a Consultation Works

Our philosophy

Our consultations are designed to teach strategies and skills that apply to current and future writing projects. The goal isn’t to fix your paper for you; rather, through collaboration with a writing consultant, you can develop some ways to revise your own writing so you can be successful on your own even after you leave the writing center.

What a consultation looks like

We recommend that you make an appointment to guarantee a meeting with a consultant. You can make an appointment through the TracCloud scheduler, or by calling us at (407) 823-2197. We welcome drop-in writers, but drop-ins can only be seen if we do not already have an appointment scheduled or if our appointments do not show within 15 minutes of the appointment time.

For an in-person session, at the beginning of your appointment time, you’ll come to the UWC and sign in. Your tutor will meet you and you’ll sit down together.

If you haven’t worked with a tutor on this writing task before, the tutor will probably begin by asking you a number of questions: about your assignment requirements, about what you’ve done so far, and about what questions or concerns you have, or what specific parts of your paper you want to focus on. The tutor wants to have a better understanding of what you’re working on, and gather information that will help the two of you decide what to prioritize in the consultation. You won’t be able to discuss all aspects of your writing in 30-45 minutes, so the tutor may recommend a few key issues to focus on. Together, you and the tutor will also discuss your concerns in order to make a plan for the session.

After that, the tutor might read part of your paper aloud, or ask you to read it. You’ll discuss key issues, and your tutor might have you do some revising during the consultation so you can practice the strategies you’re talking about. At the end of the consultation, you’ll log out, and your tutor will send you an e-mail that will recap what you did during the session and serve as your “to-do” list for continuing to revise after you leave.

Some things UWC tutors can help you do

  • Understand assignment requirements
  • Develop ideas
  • Plan and organize your writing
  • Identify and address some key aspects of your writing for you to revise
  • Consider how audiences might respond to your writing
  • Learn to cite and document sources
  • Practice strategies for revising, editing, and proofreading
  • Learn to correct errors in grammar, punctuation, and mechanics

You may also visit the UWC in small groups. This could be a group consultation on a group assignment, or several classmates working on the same individual assignment may wish to visit as a group.

How to get the most out of a consultation

  • Visit the UWC well before your assignment is due.
  • Allow enough time to have multiple consultations (on different days) for big writing projects. You probably won’t be able to discuss all aspects of your writing in just 30-45 minutes.
  • Don’t wait until you have a completed draft. Working with the UWC earlier in your writing process—even before you get started—can be just as useful.
  • For long-term help, arrange a recurring weekly appointment to meet with the same tutor at the same time throughout the semester.
  • If you’re not sure how to handle a complicated assignment, or if you’ve got writer’s block, those are good times to visit us!

What to bring to a consultation

  • Your assignment requirements or guidelines for writing
  • Your work—everything you’ve done so far
  • Your notes, outline, sources—everything you’ve used to help you write
  • Ideas, questions, and specific learning goals you’d like to accomplish

About online consultations

The UWC offers online consultations in addition to our face-to-face sessions. Online consultations take place in real time via Zoom.

To learn more about online consultations, visit our Online Consultations page.

Recurring appointments

You may wish to work with the same consultant on a weekly recurring basis. Recurring appointments may be scheduled by completing the Qualtrics form linked below. If you have not had a prior consultation with the UWC, we recommend that you have an initial consultation first before completing a recurring consultation request.

Recurring Consultation Request Form

Small group consultations

For in-person group sessions:

  • Group members should designate a team leader who will schedule the appointment at the writing center. When making the appointment, the team leader can make a note that this consultation will be a group appointment.
  • All members of the group should attend the session. Sending one member of the group to have the writing tutor “look over the paper” doesn’t facilitate learning for anyone in the group. In order to learn, all members of the group must be present.
  • Groups should be no more than three to four students. Our space can only accommodate five people at a table (4 writers + 1 tutor).
  • Sometimes, group papers or projects can be a large undertaking. Because consultations are only 45-minutes, it is best for the group members to identify segments of the project that they may want to focus or work on during the consultation.
  • There may be no more than one appointment per group per day, and no more than three appointments in a seven day period.