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Our core service is a 50-minute, one-to-one consultation with one of our professional writing consultants. For the 2020-21 academic year, all one-to-one consultations will be held online via our online schedule.
During an online session, you can ask questions and work on a shared virtual document with a consultant in real time. Consultants are available to meet in different forms, including video, audio, and/or text-only chat appointments. Visit our online scheduler to make an appointment.
Making an online chat appointment
Book your appointment via our online scheduler, exactly as you would for a face-to-face session. All of the appointments on our main writing center schedule currently default to an online session. On the main view of the schedule, check the meeting options next to the consultant’s name to find someone whose availability matches your preferred meeting form:
When it’s time for your session to begin, log in to the scheduler and click on your appointment. You’ll be directed to join your consultant in a chat room where you can paste your draft and talk with the consultant through video, audio, or text-only chat.
Adding yourself to the waiting list
Our schedule is always in flux, and appointments frequently become available last-minute due to student cancelations. You can add yourself to the waitlist through our online scheduler to receive notifications when we have an opening.
Under each day’s schedule, you’ll find a link that reads “WAITING LIST: [DATE].” Click this link, and a pop-up will open that asks you to choose whether you’d like to hear about all openings, or just those for specific times / consultants:
In your profile settings, you can decide whether to receive these notifications by text or by email.
Once you receive the email/text that a session is open, log into the schedule ASAP to reserve it. These notifications go out to everyone on the waiting list at once, so another student may have already reserved the hour by the time you see the message! As long you remain on the waiting list, you’ll keep receiving notifications every time someone cancels a session. To stop receiving these messages, click the “WAITING LIST” link again to remove yourself.
Preparing for your session
You’ll get the most out of your online session with a little preparation. Here’s what we recommend:
- Try to schedule your appointment so that you can draft beforehand, and leave enough time following your session to revise. You’ll want to put into practice what you learned.
- Have materials related to your project accessible: a digital copy of your draft, any assignment prompts or feedback you’ve gotten, the texts you’re reading, and sources you’re considering using.
- Read over your writing before your session. Try to identify the strong parts of your writing, as well as a few goals or areas that you’d like to work on.
If you have specific questions about your professor’s assignment or expectations, be sure to ask! The more you can tell us about the goals for your writing, the better.
In order to best serve all students, we ask for your courtesy:
- Arrive on time. All appointments begin at the start of the hour (for example, at 11:00 exactly). After ten minutes (for example, at 11:10), your appointment may be cancelled and offered to another student.
- Come prepared to actively engage in the session. During your session, you’ll be drafting, asking questions, revising, and engaging in productive conversation around your writing.
- Cancel your appointment if you can’t make it. You can cancel your appointment directly from the online scheduler or you can email writing.center@baruch.cuny.edu for help.
For first-time visitors
If you’ve never visited the Writing Center before, we encourage you to read through our guide for new students.
