Writing Center Tutoring
The Writing Center offers one-on-one tutoring to help you at every stage of the writing
process. Whether you are just getting started, in the middle of your paper, or almost
ready to submit your final draft, we provide no-cost writing support for undergraduate
and graduate students. Appointments can be made for sessions that are in person, synchronous
online through Zoom, or asynchronous online via feedback comments.
To make your appointment, click here to access the schedule.
For instructions on how to schedule an appointment, click here to view a short video.
What to Expect at Your Tutoring Session
- Your tutoring session will last for approximately 30 minutes. Please upload your paper
as a Word document, and not a PDF, half an hour before the session begins.
- If your paper is long (5 or more pages), you may need to schedule more than one appointment.
Tutors can only look at one assignment per tutoring session.
- You and the tutor will begin by discussing your assignment - even if you haven't started
writing it yet (if you have the instructions or rubric, showing that to the tutor
is helpful). The tutor may work with you on all of your paper or just part. You will
get feedback and suggestions.
- The tutor will not edit your paper, as their job is to help you learn to be a better
writer. They'll give you tips about finding and fixing your own errors.
- If your professor has asked you to provide proof that you received tutoring in the
Writing Center, you can share the confirmation email that your tutor will send to
you after the appointment with your professor.
Zoom Online Appointments
To set up a synchronous online appointment with the Writing Center via Zoom:
- Use this link to schedule your appointment: madonna.mywconline.com.
- Upload (madonna.mywconline.com) or email (writingcenter@madonna.edu) a copy of your paper and/or the assignment instructions at least one hour before
the appointment.
- Log on to madonna.mywconline.com at your appointment time.
- Click on your scheduled appointment, and then click "START OR JOIN ONLINE CONSULTATION"
to join the Zoom session.
- You and your tutor should be able to see each other via Zoom at the appointed time.
If you don’t, check the camera icon in the toolbar at the bottom of the window. If
there’s a red diagonal line across it, click the camera icon to activate the camera
view.
- Note: Mac users might need to enable camera, microphone, and screen recording for Zoom
in their system preferences. Zoom should prompt you to do this when you join the
session. If you don’t notice the prompt, but your audio, video, or screensharing
are not working, go to System Preferences > Security and Privacy > Privacy Tab > [scroll
down] Screen Recording. The Zoom app will need to restart for these changes to take
effect. Detailed instructions can be found here.
- Make sure there’s no red diagonal line across the microphone icon (also in the toolbar),
too, so that the tutor can hear you.
- If you need to type back and forth to the tutor or send/receive links or files, use
the chat feature by clicking the speech bubble labelled "Chat."
- Your tutor will ask you to share your screen by clicking the green "Share Screen"
icon in the toolbar so that you can both see the document that you are working on.
If you are unable to share a document on your screen, your tutor will share their
screen so that you can both view the draft or a collaborative whiteboard space together.
- Note: If you experience issues with screensharing from a Mac, see the note under step 5
above.
- You and your tutor will be able to annotate shared documents by clicking the pen icon
labelled "Annotate." A screenshot of shared annotations will be available to you
after the appointment, along with a link to the Zoom cloud recording, audio transcript,
and chat log (stored in the cloud for 120 days).
- Exit the session by clicking on the red icon labelled "End" on the right side of the
toolbar. Next, click "Leave Meeting."
Asynchronous eTutoring Appointments
To set up an asynchronous online appointment with the Writing Center:
- Use this link to schedule your appointment: madonna.mywconline.com.
- Upload (madonna.mywconline.com) a copy of your paper AND the assignment instructions at least one hour before the
appointment. Note: Please upload your draft as a Word document so that the tutor can save feedback into
the document. PDF documents cannot be properly reviewed.
- Be sure to let us know what you would like the tutor to focus on while reading your
essay by typing in the box labeled "What would you like to work on today?"
- When it is time for your appointment, you do not need to do anything. A Writing Center
tutor will review your submission and provide feedback comments and resources. Keep
an eye on your email for a notification stating that your feedback is ready.
- Review the comments provided and follow the tutor's suggestions to correct, improve,
finish, or revise your paper.
- Specific feedback comments will be provided [in bold brackets] at the end of sentences and paragraphs needing attention. General feedback comments
will also be provided at the end of the paper (or the end of the section covered in
the appointment) with links to helpful resources.
- If your paper is long (5 or more pages) or has a lot of issues, you may need to schedule
more than one appointment.
Note: Our tutors and specialists are typically able to review 4-10 pages in an asynchronous
session depending on the number of issues to address. This means students with papers
needing a lot of work will need to schedule multiple asynchronous appointments, just
as they would for in-person/synchronous appointments.
