If you’re not able to meet with a consultant in real time—or if you’d prefer to receive feedback by email, so you can read it later at your own pace—you can submit a request for Written Feedback. Upload your draft to our online schedule, along with two or three questions you’d like us to focus on. We’ll return your paper via email with comments and suggestions to guide your next steps.
For some requests, we can also send you a brief video of your consultant walking you through their comments. When you submit your draft, let us know if you’re interested in video feedback!
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Submitting a Written Feedback request
To submit your paper, log into our online appointment schedule, click on “Schedules” on the top menu bar and select the “Written Feedback” schedule.
Next, click on (or search for) the earliest available group appointment. On the Written Feedback appointment form:
- Upload your paper as a Word file (.docx). Currently enrolled CUNY students can download MS Word for free.
- Include as much information as you can—your assignment instructions, revision goals, questions, deadline, and stage in the writing process.
- If your document is longer than 6 double-spaced pages, please identify a specific section you’d like the consultant to focus on.
- If you are interested in receiving Video Feedback (where the consultant records a short screencast video responding to your questions), check “I am interested in video feedback” at the bottom of the appointment form. Given time constraints, we may not be able to accommodate all requests for video feedback, but you’ll receive written comments if we can’t do video.
You can submit multiple requests for Written Feedback, but keep in mind that students are limited to two hours of consultation per week, in any combination of online sessions or Written Feedback. For example, if you’ve had a video session this week, we can only respond to one Written Feedback request, even if you have four requests in the queue.
If you’d like to request additional feedback on a revised draft (or request feedback on a different assignment), please make a separate appointment on a different day on the Written Feedback schedule. We don’t get notified if you revise or add additional documents to an appointment that already received consultant feedback, so please submit any additional requests as a new appointment on a different day.
When to request Written Feedback
The Written Feedback service works best when you have a full draft and clear questions about your next steps. In marginal comments, the consultant can:
- Notice where your ideas are clearest, strongest, or most persuasive
- Help identify and revise unclear arguments and phrases
- Note places you may need more evidence
- Help you ensure you’re meeting all of the assignment guidelines
- Suggest strategies for reorganizing
- Develop a plan to address patterns of grammatical error
- Provide links to additional writing resources
What we cannot offer in Written Feedback
- We cannot respond to requests that are missing a draft or clear revision goals and questions. If you’re still brainstorming and developing your ideas, or if you’re not sure what to prioritize in revision, we recommend that you sign up for a 50-minute session on our main schedule instead.
- We cannot guarantee an immediate response. Consultants respond to Written Feedback on a first-come-first-served basis whenever an hour winds up free due to missed or canceled appointments. We generally respond to Written Feedback requests within 3 business days. However, during peak times of the semester—like midterms and finals—the turnaround time may be slower. Be sure to submit your request far enough in advance to receive a response and revise based on the feedback.
- We cannot proofread, copyedit, or otherwise directly revise student writing. That said, students often ask for help with grammar, clarity, and accuracy. Our consultants are happy to help you revise your own writing with these goals in mind; they just cannot make the edits for you.
Viewing your feedback
Written Feedback
Once a writing consultant completes their feedback, you will receive an automated email containing a Word doc attachment. You can also access your feedback file directly from our online schedule:
- Log into the online schedule, click on “Schedules” on the top menu bar, and select the “Written Feedback” schedule.
- Locate your Written Feedback appointment. Using calendar view, use the “Previous Week” or the date selection button to navigate to your appointment. Using search view, use the dropdown menu in the “Today’s Appointments” section to select the correct appointment.
- Click to open your appointment form. In the “Attached Files” box at the bottom of the appointment form, download the consultant’s feedback file.
Important: Make sure that you download and open the file on a computer (rather than a phone) because Track Changes comments may not appear correctly on a phone or in preview mode.
Video Feedback
- Use the steps above to locate and download your feedback Word file.
- Once you’ve downloaded and opened the file, you will find the video link and password in the consultant’s introductory note, either at the top of the first page or in the first marginal comment (you may need to click to expand the comment).
- To watch your video, paste the feedback link from your document into the search bar. Then, enter the password when prompted.
Important: In order to watch your video, you must be signed into your CUNY Zoom account. To sign into your Zoom account, go to cuny.zoom.us and click “Sign In.” Enter your CUNYFirst username and password. In the same tab you just logged into, paste the feedback link from your document into the search bar. Then, enter the password when prompted.
