Writing Center | Tutoring Services Overview

IWU's WC|TS's POLICIES and GUIDELINES 

Appointments and the Space:

Making Appointments: All appointments are made through LIbCal:  https://libcal.iwu.edu/appointments. LibCal will always send a confirmation email for all appointments and cancelations.

Online Appointments: We require the use of a camera to ensure that the writer we are working with is the writer whose paper we are editing. If we can not ensure we are working with the writer who created the paper, we cannot hold the appointment. We also ask that you refrain from using your cellphone during online appointments just as you would in face-to-face meetings. These devices are at best distracting, and inhibit your ability to fully engage in the writing process. 

Face-to-Face in the Center Appointments: We require that either yourself or the tutor read your drafts aloud, except in extenuating circumstances. Much research has been done on the benefit of reading aloud as it allows for patterns of error to be noticed quickly and addressed in a holistic manner. We also request no cell phones be present during any writing center appointment and that you remain engaged in discussing your draft with the tutor.

Length of appointments: Tutorials are usually 30 minutes to an hour long and are always scheduled on the hour or half-hour. If your paper is longer than 4 pages we request that you schedule an hour appointment, rather than risk a session being cut short.

Notification of Instructors and Advisors: Students have the right to have their instructors and/ or advisors notified about their visit to the Writing Center | Tutoring Services. Notification of the session will be sent out the same day the session occurred. 

Late Appointments: Tutors will wait five minutes for students who have made appointments. After five minutes, if walk-in student is waiting for tutoring, that student will be given priority and the scheduled appointment will be canceled. 

Take-home essay exams: The standing policy of the Writing Center | Tutoring Services is not to assist students with take-home essay exams. However, if the Writing Coordinator has received email or written permission from the instructor to give tutoring assistance to students with take-home exams, tutors will aid those students. If a student comes to the Writing Center | Tutoring Services for help on a take-home exam after approval from the instructor, verification of the visit will automatically be sent to the instructor.

Safe Zone: We reserve the right to revoke a student, staff, or faculty member's access to the WCTS for being in violation of our policies or those of Illinois Wesleyan University. We are an open environment, committed to fostering diversity, respect, and learning. 

Faculty Information:

Short Class Visits: While the Writing Center | Tutoring Services encourages class visits to the center in Ames 105b as a means of promoting the Center and encouraging its use. Such visits need to be planned ahead of time with the Writing Center | Tutoring Services Director, bjarvisf@iwu.edu. Alternatively, we will conduct in-class visits to your class  to speak about what the writing center offers. 

Full Class Visits: The writing center will also arrange specific writing-related sessions in classroom or in the Center for Engaged Learning space outside of the Writing Center. Offerings include -- but are not limited to -- peer revision, small-group tutoring, and thesis statement development. 

Ethical Guidelines:

1. We offer suggestions on papers, notes, and presentations. We do not judge; we do not offer grades. As often as possible, we ensure that changes come from the student. Our comments are suggestions which the student may or may not incorporate; the evaluation of an assignment is the responsibility of the instructor, not the tutor. Our responses to student work are constructive and honor the idea that all writing is part of an ongoing process. We support the University Policy Concerning Student Conduct & Academic Integrity as detailed in the IWU Student Handbook.
2. We maintain a professional distance between ourselves and the student coming in for suppor, while striving to maintain a comfortable, relaxed, and positive environment in the WCTS. Behavior from peers which the tutor considers too intimate are not tolerated and will be reported to the Writing Center | Tutoring Services director.
3. We will not engage in discussions with students about faculty nor will we evaluate the quality of assignments. When asked by students for our opinion about an instructor or assignment, we will focus on study and learning strategies to be successful in the course.
4. We respect the privacy of our clients and of the tutorials. We will not share information about a tutorial without the client's written consent unless there is a safety concern.
5. We do not allow the use of cellphones--excepting in emergencies--during an appointment as they are at best distracting and at worst inhibit the writer and tutor from having a productive conversation.
6. We will not meet with students outside of our tutors' scheduled hours. Tutors must be paid for their work and therefore that work must be documented. Additionally, we believe in ensuring our tutors' safety, and that means being able to provide them a safe, comfortable environment in which to tutor.
7. As writing center and student success tutors, we provide support to students and refer them to available campus resources as deemed appropriate. These may include student services referrals, such as referrals to the Office of Residential Life, Counseling and Consultation Services, the Career Center, Student Accessibility Services, Multicultural Affairs, etc., or to academic services, such as the student’s instructor, adviser, the Director of General Education, etc.
8. Given the guidelines above, we acknowledge that there is a broad spectrum of different tutoring styles and request that if a tutor's style is not to your liking, you make the productive effort of discovering which tutor will best serve your needs. 
9. We reserve the right to revoke Writing Center | Tutoring Services privileges for any student who does not engage our services in an ethical, constructive, and respectful manner.