In addition to our in-person appointments, the University Writing Center offers eTutoring appointments. These sessions provide a remote option for students who can't make it to an in-person appointment.
What is an eTutoring appointment?
An eTutoring appointment allows you to upload a draft and have a Peer Writing Consultant provide feedback on that draft via email. The document will also be saved in the appointment system, and you will be able to access it and read the feedback on any time. You are required to upload your paper in advance but do not need to be present for the appointment.
What kind of appointment should I make?
We recommend making an in-person appointment for most appointments but especially if you are:
- in the early stages of the writing process (e.g., brainstorming, organizing your thoughts, developing ideas, etc.)
- have questions about "big picture" topics such as overall organization, paragraph structure, argument and supporting points, etc.
- aren't sure what you want help with and just want to "check" your writing with someone
We recommend making an eTutoring appointment if you are unable to make it for an in-person appointment and if you are
- in the later stages of the writing process (e.g., final revisions, editing, etc.)
- have questions about focused topics such as word choice/phrasing, paragraph transitions, sentence variety, etc.
- want to focus on specific sections of a draft or on more techinical concerns like formatting and citations
What are Higher Order Concerns and Lower Order Concerns?
Higher Order Concerns (HOC) should be the priority during the writing process because they have the greatest impact on successful communication; some common HOCs we work with are overall organization, analysis, and expansion of ideas.
Lower Order Concerns (LOC) are focused on sentence- and word-level concerns and usually come later in the writing process; some common LOCs we work with are paragraph transitions, formatting, and in-text citations.
- Check out our resource on HOCs and LOCs for more detailed information.
