Appointments
The Writing Center provides one-on-one consultations during the remote education period through online Zoom video meetings. We’ll gladly help with whatever concerns or questions you have, no matter what stage your project is in.
Students are allowed one appointment per day up to three days a week. Our call hours for questions or scheduling during the summer are Monday-Friday from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. For questions or concerns outside of those hours, please reach out to writingctr1@vcu.edu, but be aware we are unable to schedule appointments through email.
To schedule your consultation, please visit our self-scheduling appointment system or call us at (804) 828-4851 during the above stated call hours. You may request to work with a particular consultant.
Appointment times
We schedule our appointments in hour-long blocks, but your actual appointment time will be 50 minutes. We must stick to this appointment length to ensure we see all students on time. We are still operating during our usual business hours, Monday-Thursday 9 a.m.-9 p.m., Friday 9 a.m.-6 p.m., Saturday 12-6 p.m., and Sunday 10 a.m.-4 p.m. (MCV).
How to prepare
Come ready. Bring any guidelines or materials related to your project, along with any questions and concerns. You don’t have to bring a complete draft. Making an appointment just to clarify an assignment or generate ideas is fine and even encouraged. Be sure to download any documents that you want to share in the meeting beforehand!
Come early. If you come too close to your assignment’s due date, you might not have time to make all the revisions you’d like. Plus, this leaves time for you to come back for additional feedback at later stages.
Come ready to talk. You’ll accomplish the most when the session is a dialogue rather than a mini-lecture. We won’t just edit your paper for you; we’ll work out ways to make it awesome together.
Familiarize yourself with Zoom. Please be sure to log in at vcu.zoom.us and not through the standard Zoom website. If you have not used Zoom before, here are some excellent resources to get you started. Please review them ahead of your first online consultation of the remote learning period.
IMPORTANT: include your email address in the Appointment Details when scheduling your appointment through Navigate. In order to properly conduct an online consultation through Zoom, you must include your VCU email address in the Navigate appointment details. If you have not included your VCU email in the appointment details, please cancel your appointment and resubmit with the proper information needed.
What to expect
When you have an appointment at the Writing Center during the remote education period, consultants will send a Zoom meeting invitation to your VCU email at the top of the hour to conduct appointments. Please have stable internet access, be logged into your VCU email, and have the Zoom app or website open in order to conduct appointments properly.
Familiarize yourself with how to share a document in Zoom (1. In an active Zoom meeting, select the “Chat” tool. 2. There is then an option to share a “file”. There is a specific button in the Chat window to do this, and 3. open the document and collaboratively work together) Know that Zoom is one of the premiere video conferencing systems, and it should make online consulting smooth. One bit of advice: always make sure audio and video are not muted!
During your session, you might brainstorm to find a good topic driven by your interests and passions. Or you might create an outline, sorting through your ideas to figure out how they fit together. Maybe you’ll want to read through your first draft and talk about transitions, organization or tone. Or you might work together to polish your final draft.