Appointment Policies

two women sit at a table together with their laptops, talking about a piece of writing
  • To ensure that a writing consultant will be available to work with you, make an appointment using our online reservation system. If you have not made an appointment but would like to see a consultant, you are welcome to stop by the Writers' Workshop or check our online schedule to see if a "drop-in" appointment is available.
  • You are allowed to schedule two 30-minute appointments or one 60-minute appointment per day. In any one week, you are allowed to make up to four 30-minute appointments or two 60-minute appointments for a total of 120 minutes a week using our online scheduling system. You may also try for drop-in appointments beyond those limits, but note that drop-in appointments are on a first-come, first-served basis.

 

  • If you are more than 10 minutes late for an appointment, you will be counted as a "no show" and may lose your time slot to a drop-in writer. Missing three appointments in a semester without having canceled ahead of time may result in not being able to make appointments online for the rest of the semester. However, you will still be able to try for walk-in slots.
  • If you know you will be unable to keep your appointment, please cancel it as far in advance as possible. Login to WCOnline to cancel the appointment yourself, or contact us at [email protected] is a courtesy to other writers. 

Other Session Policies

  • If you have an in-person appointment, bring 2 printed copies of the writing you plan to discuss (if you can) OR bring a laptop with drafts (instructions, prompts, or rubrics) that can be shared electronically with your consultant.
  • If you have made an online appointment, log back in to WCOnline to access your session. At the appointment start time, open the appointment (now marked in gold) and click "Start or Join Online Consultation" to enter the Zoom session.
  • While we are happy to help you learn strategies for finding punctuation and grammar errors in your work, Workshop consultants will first focus on making sure that your writing is in its final stage before beginning that editing process.
  • Writers must always be present while their paper or project is being looked at by a consultant. Sessions are designed to be collaborative and interactive, inviting participation from both the writer and the consultant.
  • If you are working on a course assignment, your grade is between you and your instructor. Consultants cannot predict or discuss your grades.
  • Writers and consultants are expected to treat one another with mutual respect, appreciating differences in ethnicity, race, gender, age, and beliefs. University policies regarding bias, discrimination, and harassment will be enforced. See the UMD Department of Human Resources and Equal Opportunity for more information.
  • Session summary reports will be emailed to the writer after each session. These reports as well as any other consultation information are considered private and will not be shared with others outside the Workshop. Student writers may choose to share the reports with their instructors, but the Workshop does not provide session summaries to anyone but the writer.
  • Appointments to discuss take-home exams are allowed only with the consent of the instructor giving the exam. The consent must be given in writing on the exam instructions, on a syllabus, or through a separate document.