Appointments and Inquiries

Choose one of the options below, or write to us at wrc@du.edu.

Appointments

Make an appointment or request a peer response

Resources

Access writing and citation resources

Questions

Ask a writer! Send us your quick writing and citation questions

Support

Request support for classes, programs, and groups

Policies & Practices

  • Degree of writing support offered

    We work on just about any kind of writing, including employment and grad school applications and personal and public writing not assigned for a class. Writers may meet with a consultant to discuss an oral presentation, multimedia project, email, blog, work of fiction, civic writing, and most other kinds of writing. We work on all aspects of a writing process from brainstorming through drafting, revising, and final drafts. 

    We focus on introducing practices and habits to writers and helping them implement strategies in order to give them additional tools when writing and rereading their work. These strategies often address grammatical, mechanical, and stylistic concerns, but they do so with a focus on long-term, widely-applicable practices, not on short-term, specific "fixes."

  • Number of consultations offered

    DU undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty, and staff may schedule in advance up to one  appointment per day, three appointments per week, and thirty appointments per quarter. 

    Individuals may stop by the Writing Center in Anderson Academic Commons 280 or join our Zoom room at the start of any hour to see if a drop-in consultation is available. If no appointments are available at that time, we are happy to schedule the individual for the next available spot. 

    We invite alumni to schedule one appointment per week. Contact us at wrc@du.edu to see if we have appointments available.

  • Drop-in consultations

    Writers are welcome to drop in without an appointment in person or in Zoom) and meet with a consultant if one is available. We recommend dropping in between :55 and :15 to have the best chance of meeting with a consultant. 

  • Missed appointments

    We hold all appointments until :10 past the hour. After that time, if a writer has not appeared for their scheduled consultation, we may release the appointment to a waiting writer. 

    We understand that things come up and conflicts happen, and we do not penalize writers for missing appointments occasionally. However, we encourage writers, whenever possible, to let us know with a quick email to wrc@du.edu or call to 303-871-7345 that f they will be late or need to reschedule. 

  • How to prepare for a writing consultation

    To best prepare for your in-person consultation, we suggest you re-read your current draft and assignment or instructions while considering what you most want to address with your consultant.

    Consider your writing goals: what would you like to accomplish? What specific challenges are you experiencing? What questions do you have? If you have a longer paper, which section are you most interested in discussing?

    Consider your writing history: what kinds of comments have you received from professors, readers, colleagues, peer reviewers, or others on previous writing? What challenges do you face in writing? What strengths do you have as a writer?

    Consider your writing process: Where are you in the process of this particular piece of writing? Writing your first draft? Almost finished? When revising, what kinds of feedback and conversation do you find productive? What are your writing habits?

    Please bring any relevant materials: hard copy drafts, assignment prompts, notes, texts/source material, laptop, and your ideas and questions.

  • What to expect in a consultation

    In Person

    When you come in for an appointment, the person at the front desk will greet you and may ask if you have a printed copy of your paper; if you do not, they will offer to print it for you. They will ask you to have a seat at the front of the room, and when the hour begins, your consultant will come meet you and take you to a table.

    Your consultant is likely to begin by asking some questions about your writing goals, your writing history, and your writing process. They will probably ask about the assignment or project you're working on, and they will ask you to help set an agenda for the session. You'll have about 45 minutes to work together.   

    In general, you and your consultant may read sections of your paper together out loud or silently. You may also try out new strategies, develop an outline or generate ideas, consult resources, and so on.  

    After your consultation is over, your consultant will ask you to offer us some feedback in a quick exit questionnaire. The results of this questionnaire help us to revise and refine our practices.  

    We hope that you'll leave with new approaches to writing and new perspectives on your work.

     

    Writers and consultants must refrain from smoking, vaping, drinking alcohol, driving, or operating motor vehicles during consultations. If a writer is a passenger in a moving vehicle, we may suggest rescheduling the appointment. 

     

    Online

    Please note: Writers and consultants must refrain from smoking, vaping, drinking alcohol, driving, or operating motor vehicles during consultations. If a writer is a passenger in a moving vehicle, we may suggest rescheduling the appointment. 

     

    When you are ready for your scheduled Zoom appointment, join the Zoom room linked in your appointment form. You'll probably stay in the waiting room for a few minutes. 

    The Zoom host will send a message confirming that they know you've arrived and whether there's a wait, then admit you at about :00. When the host admits you to the main Zoom room, they will tell you the name of your consultant and send you to a breakout room, where your consultant will join you no later than :05. 

    Your consultant is likely to begin by asking some questions about your writing goals, writing history, and writing process. They will probably ask about the assignment or project you're working on, and they will ask you to help set an agenda for the session. 

    You'll likely be asked to share your document either via screen share or via Google doc. If you share a Google doc, please be sure you have a shareable link; do this by clicking on "Share" in the upper right corner of your Google doc; under "General access," click "anyone with the link." Copy the link and be ready to paste it into the Zoom chat so your consultant can access it. 

    You and your consultant will have about 45 minutes to work together. In general, you may read sections of your paper together out loud or silently. You may also try out new strategies, develop an outline or generate ideas, consult resources, and so on.

    After your consultation is over, your consultant will ask you to offer us some feedback in a quick exit questionnaire. The results of this questionnaire help us to revise and refine our practices.

    We hope that you'll leave with new approaches to writing and new perspectives on your work.

  • What to expect in a written/recorded peer response

    Peer response is available for a paper or section of paper no longer than 5 pages. Choose to request a written or recorded response to your writing project if...

    • You have a working draft and are ready to share it with a peer reader, or
    • You have specific questions or priorities that can help your reader to focus, or
    • You benefit from written feedback that you can review and process on your own, or 
    • Your internet is unreliable, or your schedule makes it difficult for you to attend live consultations, or. 
    • You'd like to try our written peer response offering, or
    • You do not require grammatical or mechanical suggestions, and
    • You do not require immediate review of your draft (you'll receive your work back within 3 business days).

    You'll fill out and submit a request form, then receive an email letting you know if we are able to accept your request for a response within 3 business days. It's possible, if we have a large queue of requests, that we will recommend an in-person consultation. 

    Ideally, a consultant will respond in writing to your project within 3 business days. Your consultant will insert comments into your document making observations, identifying areas for revision or development, asking questions, and suggesting strategies for revision. 

  • What to expect in a written/recorded peer response

    Peer response is available for a paper or section of paper no longer than 5 pages. Choose to request a written or recorded response to your writing project if some of all of the following conditions apply: 

    • you have a working draft and are ready to share it with a peer reader, or
    • you have specific questions or priorities that can help your reader to focus, or
    • you benefit from written feedback that you can review and process on your own, or 
    • your internet is unreliable, or your schedule makes it difficult for you to attend live consultations, or
    • you'd like to try our written peer response offering, or
    • you do not require grammatical or mechanical suggestions, and
    • you do not require immediate review of your draft (you'll receive your work back within 3 business days).

    You'll fill out and submit a request form, then receive an email letting you know if we are able to accept your request for a response within the time frame. It's possible, if we have a large queue of requests, that we will recommend an in-person consultation. 

    Ideally, a consultant will respond in writing to your project. Your consultant will insert comments into your document making observations, identifying areas for revision or development, asking questions, and suggesting strategies for revision.