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Policies for Writers
Code of Conduct
The Writers Workshop operates within the larger inclusive and professional environment of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. In creating a diverse and respectful environment, the Writers Workshop will not accept verbal abuse or acts of intolerance, including those based on race, ethnicity, nationality, citizenship, political orientation, language, gender, sex, sexual orientation, age, education, ability, neurodiversity, socioeconomic, cognitive, appearance, and other identities in any and all of our educational settings. These policies are applicable in in-person and online environments. All participants (consultants, staff, and writers) have the right to conclude a session at any point if they feel uncomfortable. The Writers Workshop aims to maintain a safe, supportive, and healthy working environment for both the writers and the consultants.
If participants violate this conduct policy, consequences may include being denied appointments with specific tutors, permanent or temporary ban from the Writers Workshop, and/or being reported to a campus official.
Privacy Policy
If you have questions that you can’t find the answer to here or elsewhere on our website, feel free to email us at wow@illinois.edu or call 217-333-8796.
The Writers Workshop uses WCOnline for our appointment and record management system. WCOnline’s privacy policy states:
- We do not collect personally identifiable information about individuals through our sites or programs without the individual’s explicit knowledge, and all such information is collected directly from that specific individual. We use the information we collect from individuals only to allow them to access and use our programs or to service their subscriptions.
- We do not sell, share, or distribute in any way any information that we collect, nor do we use such information for any other purpose than explicitly stated here. All information contained in WCONLINE databases is stored on secure servers solely used and managed by WCONLINE.
- On some of our services, we use cookies to give you the best possible experience–such as to allow you to remain logged in instead of having to log in repeatedly. If you continue without changing your settings, we’ll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies.
WCOnline documents its security practices in a publicly-available HECVAT.
Users may contact wow@illinois.edu to fully delete an account or to request an export of your data.
Appointment Policies
- Writers may currently have 3 appointments per week (the week begins on Monday), across all schedules, including the Speakers Workshop schedule. SUMMER 2025: 2 appointments each per week for Writers Workshop and Speakers Workshop. Our workshops, writing groups, and other events do not count toward your appointment number.
- We do not have strict limits on drop-in consultation attendance. However, if you have attended one or more drop-in sessions within an evening and/or five or more within a week, we may ask you to limit your number of drop-in sessions during especially busy times, such as midterms and finals. Visit the FAQ page to learn more and determine which type of consultation is best for your writing.
- We encourage writers to schedule an appointment in advance or to plan on using our dedicated drop-in consultation hours. However, we will do our best to help walk-in writers at any location except when our appointments are fully reserved. In those cases, we will help you to either make an appointment or visit during our drop-in consultation hours.
- Appointment reservations may be made up to 10 days in advance.
- If you are a student who believes you would benefit from one weekly appointment, one appointment every other week, or one monthly standing appointment, please contact the Writers Workshop (wow@illinois.edu) to discuss the best options for you and your writing needs. Recurring appointments will end two weeks before finals period to prioritize our resources for end-of-semester assignments.
- If you have made an appointment for a group project, please indicate that on the appointment form. We ask that at least half of a group’s members are present for the appointment. For video call appointments, the member of the group who has created the appointment can click the “copy” button next to “Start or Join Online Consultation” to obtain a shareable link to the video call.
- All appointments must be made under your own name and email account. You may use only one email account. Users with more than one account, who make an appointment under another person’s account, or who allow another person to make an appointment under their account may be blocked for the rest of the semester.
- The writing you bring must be your own (collaborative or co-authored work is fine). Users who bring other writers’ work may be asked to leave the session or their account may be blocked for the rest of the semester.
- The Writers Workshop offers limited one-on-one writing consultations to recent alums of UIUC. To learn more and schedule an appointment, please contact the Writers Workshop directly by email wow@illinois.edu or by phone (217) 333-8796. The Writers Workshop is typically booked from midterms through finals, so you most likely will not be able to see a consultant during this period.
Additional In-Person Policies
- If you are sick, please stay home! You are welcome to contact us, and we can help you switch your appointment to a video call rather than in-person.
- For health and safety reasons, we encourage you to bring your own device or to bring two copies of your document. If possible, we suggest creating a shareable Google Doc before your appointment, so that you and your consultant can interact with the text on separate devices. We also have desktop computers available.
- Individuals are always welcome to wear a face covering to protect themselves. Given the close proximity necessitated by our consultations, we encourage you to consider wearing a face covering in the Writers Workshop.
Additional Video Call Policies
Video call appointments through the Writers Workshop are an extension of the University’s instructional space. Both writers and consultants should conduct themselves during video call consultations the same way they would on campus. To ensure that this is possible, please:
- Plan ahead to ensure you have access to a space that will enable you to interact with our consultants via video, audio, and/or chat functions.
- Do not schedule sessions during your classes or work shifts.
- Excuse yourself if you need to step away from your device.
- We have additional tips about troubleshooting during video call appointments here.
Additional Written Feedback (WFA) Policies
- We hope that Written Feedback Appointments make our services more accessible to students who might have difficulty attending our live consultations due to issues like different time zones or unstable internet connections.
- Upload your writing as a doc, docx, pdf, or ppt. Docs must be 5MB or smaller. If you share a pdf file, your consultant will focus on higher-level issues like argument, structure, alignment to prompt, etc., and you may receive fewer marginal comments and no in-line comments.
Cancellation & Late Policies
- Please cancel appointments more than 4 hours in advance. If you cancel less than 4 hours prior to your appointment time, this will be considered a late cancellation.
- If you cancel less than 30 minutes prior to your appointment time, this will be marked as a “missed” appointment.
- If you are more than 15 minutes late, this will be marked as a “missed” appointment. If you know you are running late, please call or email us so that we can make accommodations (217-333-8796, wow@illinois.edu).
- You are allowed a maximum of 4 late cancellations or 2 missed appointments in a semester. If you hit either maximum limit, you will be blocked from making appointments for the rest of the semester.
- Missed appointments count toward your appointments per week. However, you may contact us to reschedule on a case-by-case basis.
- Please contact the Writers Workshop in the case of extenuating circumstances (217-333-8796, wow@illinois.edu). If you have an in-person appointment but are unable to make it to campus, please contact us and we may be able to make accommodations.
Policies for Instructors
Requiring Students to Visit the WW
We ask that you avoid making a Writers Workshop visit a class requirement, because we cannot accommodate required use of the Workshop with our current staffing resources. Rather than requiring your students to make an appointment with the Workshop, we encourage you to contact us so that we can provide a tailored in-class presentation to your students. We find that we can accomplish a lot in these large-group formats, and that students are more likely to visit the Workshop after gaining insight into how they can benefit from the one-to-one sessions.
Extra Credit
You might consider providing extra credit for students who visit the Writers Workshop to receive feedback or attend one of our workshops. If you decide to offer a full class extra credit for coming to the Workshop—especially if you teach a high-enrollment course—we ask that you call or email to let us know your students will be coming. To document proof of attendance for writing consultations, your students can request that we copy you on their post-session report form or they can take a picture of their drop-in form. To document proof of attendance at a presentation, your students can take a picture of our Powerpoint and/or pick up a handout. While we can provide proof of attendance, with students’ permission, we will protect students’ privacy and authorial agency and will not monitor students who have used our services.
Syllabus Statement
If you’d like to provide your students with information about our services, feel free to use our syllabus statement.
FAQs
Our Services
How can the Writers Workshop help my writing?
We believe that writing is a process, and we aim to help you at every step of the way. The Writers Workshop is a teaching service, which means we use your writing as a tool to teach you how to write and help you understand and discover your own writing processes. In your consultation, you should expect to work closely with your consultant and to apply the advice they give to your writing in general (both the current text you’re working on as well as future writing). We can work with you at all levels of your text, whether it’s prewriting and outlining, assessing your organization, or adding clarity at the sentence-level. While we don’t necessarily proofread your writing line-by-line, we will work with you on grammar and syntax with the goal of helping you develop effective self-editing strategies.
Do I need to pay to use the Writers Workshop?
No. All of our services are free to undergraduate and graduate students, post-doctorates, faculty, and staff.
What should I do if I need accommodations?
We welcome all students to the Writers Workshop and will do what we can to support you! To request disability-related accommodations for our services, please contact Dr. Carolyn Wisniewski at wow@illinois.edu or call 217-333-8796.
Please see our Accessibility page for more information.
What should I do if I need an academic editor?
Academic editors are hired on an hourly or per project rate and specific timeline to provide thorough editing of high-stakes documents like manuscripts for publication, grant applications, theses, or dissertations. The Writers Workshop does not vet or provide academic editors, but we will work with you within our 50-minute appointments to explain grammatical errors, identify patterns of error, and address issues of word choice, style, and reader-friendly text.
If you would like to hire an editor, see the English Department’s list of Editors for Hire. You can also find information about the ESL Program’s tutor and editor list through the Department of Linguistics. You should consider contacting multiple editors to ask about their rates and timelines and find someone that best fits your needs.
Does the Writers Workshop work with multimedia writing?
Yes. We’re happy to work with all types of writing, including PowerPoints and presentations, posters, scripts, websites, etc. Be aware that our computers only have basic programs so you may need to bring your own device depending on the software you’re using.
Does the Writers Workshop offer any other services?
Yes. We offer writing groups and writing retreats for graduate students. We regularly host presentations and workshops on writing-related topics.
How can I stay informed about Writers Workshop events?
You can check out our Calendar for the most up-to-date information. You can also follow us on Instagram.
What should I do if I can’t find an answer to my question?
You can call us at 217-333-8796 or email us at wow@illinois.edu.
Our Scheduling System
How do I register to use the scheduling system?
To register for an account go to our scheduling system and click “Log In” or access the login page through the Writers Workshop webpage by clicking “Make an Appointment.” Enter your university credentials. Complete the registration form including your phone number, the dropdown questions, and your contact preferences. You are now registered and ready to schedule your appointment.
How do I make an appointment?
To schedule an appointment go to our scheduling system. Log in with your University email and password. Select your university status from the drop-down menu:
We hire both undergraduate and graduate consultants, so selecting the focus will help you find the best consultant for you.
The Writers Workshop has multiple locations. Once you are logged in, scroll to the Writers Workshop section to view all available schedules. You can navigate between schedules by clicking the “Schedules” menu found in the Main Menu. You can find directions to each location and its operating hours on our locations and hours page.
Our appointment availability is displayed with colored boxes:
- White = available for reservation
- Blue = already reserved
- Yellow = you’ve already reserved this appointment
- Black = time that’s unavailable (the consultant does not work those hours)
After clicking on a white box, complete the appointment form:
Once you click on “create appointment” your appointment will show up in yellow on our scheduling system and you’ll receive an email confirming your appointment.
What should I do if there are no available appointments on the date and time I want?
Firstly, make sure you’ve checked all available schedules. To view other schedules, click “Schedules” in the menu at the top left of the screen (on mobile: steps 1 & 2; on desktop: step 1). Links to other schedules can also be found in the Announcements (on mobile: step 3; on desktop: step 2).
Caption: Accessing other schedules on mobile
Caption: Accessing other schedules on desktop
If we’re booked on the time and day you’d like to make an appointment, you may join our waitlist by visiting our appointment system and clicking on the “waiting list” link at the bottom right of each day’s schedule and filling out the form. You may choose to receive a notice when an appointment opens by email or text. The system will send an automatic notification to every person on the list; the first person who books the appointment will get it.
Caption: Accessing Waitlist through our appointment system
Caption: Sample waitlist sign-up form
We also have drop-in consultations that don’t require making an appointment. Drop-ins are 15-30 minutes and are available on a first-come, first-served basis. These sessions work best for short (1-3 page) documents, specific sections of a larger piece, or specific questions (e.g., “Does this thesis make sense?” “Am I using APA in-text citation appropriately?”).
Do you offer appointments in locations other than the Main Library?
Yes. In addition to our main location, we also offer appointments at 3 satellite locations – MCB Learning Center, Grainger Library, and the Irwin Academic Center. To check out the schedule for any* of the satellite locations, log in and click on the drop-down menu at the top left and select “Schedules.” Choose a location and the schedule for that location will now be shown. *If you’re interested in booking an appointment at the Irwin Academic Center, contact your academic advisor.
We also offer video call consultations and written feedback appointments. If no appointments are available, or you just have a quick question, we also offer drop-in consultations during dedicated drop-in hours at 3 locations – Lisnek LAS Hub, Main Library, and via Zoom.
What should I do if I can’t log in for my appointment?
If you’re unable to login, call (217-333-8796) or email (wow@illinois.edu) us, and we can help you determine the cause.
Consultations
How much of my writing will we be able to review?
It depends! We work with texts as short as one paragraph and as long as 50-page dissertation chapters. The amount of text you and your consultant will review depends on your goals and the complexity of the text.
If you’re working with a lengthy document, you might consider:
- Are you most interested in general feedback about clarity? If so, we can start at the beginning and move paragraph-by-paragraph through the text. Lengthy documents would need more than one appointment for this kind of feedback.
- Are you most interested in structure? If so, we’ll focus on aspects of the text like your claim and topic sentences and will use strategies like reverse outlining.
- Are you most interested in a particular section? If so, let’s start there!
Can I choose the consultant I work with?
Yes. You can visit our Meet the Staff page and find out more information about our consultants. Then, find the consultant’s name on our scheduling system. You can also view our consultants’ bios on the scheduling system when you click on an available appointment.
Consultation-specific Information