For Students

Appointment Options

We currently offer three options for getting support with your writing projects:

• In-Person Appointments
• Zoom appointments
• Online Submissions.

Students may receive assistance from the Center for Writing once per day, whether through online submissions, in person, or via Zoom. Our appointment scheduler permits each student up to 3 appointments per week, whether in person or on Zoom.

Our consultants will review a particular assignment or project up to 3 times. Coursework submissions must be for TCU courses only.

In-Person Appointments

Plan ahead and book In-Person appointments via our scheduler well in advance of due dates or deadlines. Once you register in the system, you are free to choose a date, a time, and a consultant available at that time. Select your appointment allowing adequate time to read and discuss your paper:

• 30 minutes (1-5 pages)
• 45 minutes (6-7 pages)
• 60 minutes (8-10 pages).

Plan to arrive at 419 Reed Hall 10 minutes before the appointment start time, check in at the front desk, and print out your paper.

If you have not checked in within 10 minutes of your appointment start time, we will cancel your appointment so another student can receive assistance during that time.

If you are unable to attend your scheduled appointment, please cancel your appointment ahead of time. After three no-shows, your account will be deactivated automatically.

Zoom Appointments

To register for a Zoom appointment, go to our scheduler  and choose the Zoom schedule that appears on the pull-down menu of available times and consultants. Select your appointment, allowing adequate time to review and discuss your paper:

• 30 minutes (1-5 pages)
• 45 minutes (6-7 pages)
• 60 minutes (8-10 pages).

You may also upload your document in advance of your appointment or upload it when the appointment takes place. You will receive an email notification that confirms your Zoom appointment.

Ready to Zoom? A few minutes before your appointment’s start time, go to our scheduler and click on your appointment.

Your consultant’s stable Zoom address will appear as a link under their name. Click on the consultant’s Zoom address link to enter the consultant’s waiting room.

If you have not entered the waiting room within 10 minutes of your appointment start time, we will cancel that appointment so another student can receive assistance during that time.

If you are unable to attend your scheduled Zoom appointment, please cancel your appointment ahead of time. After three no-shows, your account will automatically be deactivated.

If you are inexperienced with Zoom, check out this brief how-to video.

Online Submissions

Submission Instructions

1. Save your document to your desktop as a Microsoft Word document (.doc or .docx) or a .PDF file.
2. Click on the “Appointment” tab at the top of this page.
3. Log in to the Center for Writing scheduler:
   • Select the “Online Submissions Summer 2025” option at the login prompt.
   • First time user? Select “Register for an account” option, proceed through the prompts, and choose your @tcu.edu email as the registration email. Then login to the scheduler.
4. Select a date: On the scheduler, click the white box for the date you are submitting.
   

   WCOnline schedule with white submission box open.

5. Complete the “Create New Appointment” form.
6. Attach your file(s). One essay/draft per submission per day. Do not include multiple essays/drafts in one document.
7. Submit your request: Click the “Create Appointment” button at the bottom of the of the form.
8. Confirmation: You will receive an email verifying your submission.
9. Feedback: Once your submission has been reviewed, you will receive a notification email from WCOnline.

Submission Guidelines

• Neglecting to include the necessary information, including group member names, may delay our ability to review your draft in a timely manner, which is within 2 business days.
• Please attach only one essay draft document per online submission.
• We read and comment on Online Submissions from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. We respond to requests in the order in which we receive them, usually within 2 business days. Please do not make duplicate submissions; they delay our ability to review and return your paper in a timely manner.
• Consultants will spend up to one hour reviewing undergraduate submissions. If you wish to resubmit for further feedback, we ask that you do so after making initial revisions.
• Graduate students working on longer projects such as theses or dissertations should visit our Graduate Writing Center page for information on submitting documents.
• Consultants will review 1 submission/essay per student per day, up to 3 submissions per week.
• Our consultants will review a particular assignment or project up to 3 times.
• Coursework submissions must be for TCU courses only.

Our Rule of Threes

Because we encourage revision, personal growth, and independence in writers,

• clients may book up to 3 appointments per week.
• writing consultants will review up to 3 online submissions per week, 1 submission per day.
• writing consultants will review a single document up to 3 times.
• clients may work with the same consultant up to 3 times consecutively, then we recommend they work with different consultants.
• writing consultants will work with alums who are new graduates up to 3 times within the first 3 months of graduation, specifically on graduate school application essays.

Academic Integrity

We provide feedback on all aspects of writing, including organization, content, documentation of sources, and sentence-level concerns. While many our consultations are assignment-based, we are able to identify both strengths and weaknesses in a student’s work.

If we notice patterns of error, we will attempt to teach a student how to avoid the error and we expect them to make any necessary corrections. We may demonstrate ways students can revise particular passages, but we are not copyeditors. The aim of such revision is not to perfect the assignment of the moment but to influence long-term writing outcomes. We do not offer estimates of grades for written projects or critiques of professors’ assignments.

The writing center does not assist students with completing take-home exams, finals, or graduate written exams without the expressed written approval of the professor.