As scholar-practitioners, RRU students develop their writing skills to be effective communicators in both their academic work and their careers. If a student would like to learn more about themselves as an author and improve their writing skills, they can book a 60-minute appointment to meet with us so that we can assist them! We're currently meeting via Zoom, which allows us to connect directly with a student, share our screens, and send links to resources during the meeting.
Students must book these appointments and send the marked version of an individual essay as a Word file at least three business days in advance to give staff sufficient time to prepare feedback. Requests with insufficient lead time will result in the appointment being cancelled.
On the day before the appointment, we will send the student written feedback in their graded essay (see Stage 1: Written feedback below) as well as recommended resources to view before the appointment. Reading the feedback and viewing the resources will take at least one hour, so we encourage students to choose a date and time that will give them sufficient time to complete those tasks before the meeting.
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If they book the appointment and send the essay on: |
The soonest possible date for a meeting is: |
| Monday | Thursday |
| Tuesday | Friday |
| Wednesday | Saturday |
| Thursday | Monday |
| Friday | Tuesday |
| Saturday | Wednesday |
| Sunday | Wednesday |
**Please note: If students do not require additional feedback on an individual marked essay but they would like to discuss questions about writing skills identified in feedback from their instructor, they can schedule a 30-minute appointment with the Writing Centre. That conversation will focus on answering questions so they have new information with which to improve their writing in your next work. Scheduling a 30-minute appointment doesn't require any lead time, and please visit Move Forward With an Unmarked Individual Assignment (30-Minute Appointment) for more information on what to expect from that appointment.
What to expect from a 60-minute appointment:
These appointments have two stages:
Stage 1: Written feedback
We provide detailed feedback on one graded, individual essay, and we use the graded version of the work that includes the instructor’s comments so we can address aspects of writing identified by the instructor in our feedback and conversation. Using a graded essay also allows us to confirm the assignment has been marked and will not be resubmitted for further grading, either as a rewrite or as part of an iterative process, to ensure we are not inadvertently providing a detailed edit on the document.
In our written feedback, we provide specific, constructive comments and suggestions regarding all aspects of writing e.g., organization, structure of arguments and paragraphs, incorporation of research data, style, grammar, punctuation, and APA Style formatting. We return the document to the student with our feedback and any recommended materials the day before the appointment to give the student time to view all the materials and prepare questions.
Stage 2: Meeting
During the meeting, we'll have a maximum of 50 minutes to discuss the positive and challenging patterns in the work, offer specific suggestions that incorporate the student’s preferred approaches to thinking and writing, and answer any questions. The goal of these conversations is to give students practical, helpful information and tools that will assist them to be confident about writing for a variety of audiences. The last 10 minutes are set aside for us to have time to send a follow-up email with any resources discussed during the conversation.
Bookings and cancellations