Rather than meet with a tutor face-to-face in the Writing Center, writers who request online appointments meet with their tutors online through our WCOnline portal.

Our online appointments work (and look) like an online chat. You can ask your tutor to enable audio and video if you wish, but it is not required (and how well it works depends on the strength of the connection on both ends.)

Who Can Use Online Tutoring

All members of the SJU community are welcome to make in-person or online appointments Monday through Sunday, depending on tutor availability. However, whenever possible, we encourage writers, especially undergraduate day students, to make face-to-face appointments.

How It Works

In the appointment form on WCOnline, which you fill out to schedule an appointment, you will be asked whether or not you wish to meet online in a drop-down menu.  Select “Yes – Meet Online.”

A few minutes before your appointment is scheduled to begin, log back into sju.mywconline.com and click on your appointment box to pull up your appointment form.  In that form, you will see the following words in red: Start or Join Online Conversation. Click on the words in red.  A new window will open.

On the left-hand side of your screen, in the largest portion of the window, paste the document that you would like to review with your tutor.  On the right-hand side of your screen, you will see the chat space.

Your tutor will begin the chat by greeting you and, if it is your first time doing an online appointment, the tutors will also help you navigate the online tutoring process.

Click on the video below for more information.

Tips for Making the Most of Your Tutorial

Take a few moments at the start the chat to introduce yourself and let your tutor know what you wish to work on during your session.

Share any information about the assignment that will help your tutor understand your goals. (Sometimes, writers cut and paste their assignment into text box, along with their paper, either on top of or below their paper.)

Give your tutor a few minutes to look over what you have pasted in the box on the left.

The tutor might direct you to places in the text by using the numbers on the left that correspond with your lines of texts, by highlighting, by using the bold and underline functions, by inserting questinos or comments in brackets. They may cut and paste and move text around. Surrender to the process. It can get messy! But if it's too messy or you'd prefer a different approach, just say so!

Additional tips:

  • Don’t worry about trying to make all of the suggested changes in the midst of the session. Revision takes time, and you don't want to miss out on additional opportunities for feedback.
  • Ask questions! We're here for you, trying to help as best as we can. If you don't understand something or if you need more or a different kind of feedback, just ask!
  • If you aren't able to do everything you wish to do in a single session, make another appointment, with the same tutor or with someone else.