Writing appointments

Please review the information on this page, or in the video above, before booking an appointment. Appointment requests that do not meet our guidelines may be cancelled.

Read time: 5-7 minutes

What are writing appointments?

Writing appointments support your development as a confident writer and editor of your own work. Writing coaches do not write, revise, edit, or proofread your assignment in an appointment. In addition, writing coaches cannot comment on content or whether your work meets assignment requirements. However, we can offer you feedback on the clarity of your ideas.

Begin by setting a goal. What would you like to learn or improve on? Your coach can work with you to achieve that goal over time. Coaching is about learning over time, not about making this one assignment perfect.

In an appointment, a writing coach can help you:

• Understand a writing concept
• Learn strategies to help you plan an assignment
• Learn strategies to overcome writer’s block

We offer 15-minute and 30-minute appointments for you to work with a writing coach through video chat.

If you have questions about an assignment draft, please start with the Write Site dropbox. This means that we do not discuss finished drafts in appointments. You can contact your coach for a follow-up appointment or email them with your questions if you need help understanding their feedback.

15-minute appointments

Book a short appointment with a coach to ask one quick writing question. For example, your question could be about:

• A citation or reference
• Formatting
• A grammatical concept

If you are new to Athabasca University, or a mature learner, and would like to learn more about our services, you are welcome to book a 15-minute appointment with a writing coach to learn more.

15-minute appointments can be booked through our booking tool below. However, you can only book one appointment at a time. When we meet, we can book a second appointment for you if you need it. If you book multiple appointments, the additional appointments will be cancelled .

Book a 15-minute appointment

If you do not see a time that works for you, please email us your question, and we can answer it by email.

How to book a 15-minute appointment

1. Go to our appointment booking tool.
2. The calendar shows availability for the next 14 days only. Therefore, you will see several days greyed out (unavailable).
3. If it is the last week of a month, click the forward arrow to see availability in the next month.
4. Choose an available day to see available times.
5. Click "Select staff" if you would like to choose a specific writing coach.
6. Select a time.
7. Scroll down to add your details. Provide your full name, phone number, student ID, program or course, and 1 writing question only.
8. Click the "Book" button at the bottom.

What if I need to cancel or reschedule?

• Please cancel or reschedule with 24 hours’ notice.
• To cancel, please email your coach. You can see who your coach is in your confirmation email.
• To reschedule, please go to your confirmation email. Click the "Reschedule" button, then click “New booking."

See the image below to understand your confirmation email.

How do I access my appointment?

1. After you book your appointment, you will receive a confirmation email with a button that says “Join your appointment.” You may also meet over the phone.
2. Clicking the button will prompt you to 1) download Microsoft Teams, 2) open Teams in the app if you already have it, or 3) open Teams in a browser. You can log in with your AU account or use it as a guest, though your AU email address is preferred. Please download and test Teams prior to your appointment. This will prevent technical issues and ensure your appointment will be held.
3. Click “Join your appointment” at the time of your appointment and wait for the coach to admit you to the meeting.

30-minute appointments

30-minute appointments are available by request only.

You can request an appointment for:

• Planning: If you have not started your assignment, you can book an appointment for support with pre-writing, brainstorming, and outlining. However, if you have questions about your assignment instructions, please contact your instructor first.
  
  

  We strongly recommend that you discuss your plan with your tutor or instructor after meeting with the writing coach to make sure you are on the right track.

• Getting unstuck: If you have started your assignment and are stuck, you can book an appointment to help get you back on track. However, the appointment will not be used to read through your assignment draft.
• Learning writing strategies: If you want to improve your confidence in writing, and are looking for general strategies to improve, you can request an appointment to brainstorm methods that might work for you.

If one of these applies to you, we invite you to email us to request a 30-minute appointment. Please include the following: 

• Your full name
• Student ID
• Course, e.g. ENGL255
• The purpose of the appointment: planning, getting unstuck, or learning writing strategies
• If relevant, your assignment instructions and any other information about your learning goals

If your coach thinks another service will work better, they will re-route you, such as to a 15-minute appointment or the dropbox. If no appointments are available, we will do our best to support you in some other way. 

Guidelines

Appointment requests that do not meet our guidelines may be cancelled. However, we will tell you the next steps to take so that you meet our guidelines and can rebook.

Before the appointment:

• If you have a draft of your paper, use the dropbox instead of booking an appointment.
• For 15-minute appointments, enter one writing question only on the booking form.
• Once booked, please save the appointment to your calendar.
• Double-check the time and time zone of the invitation to ensure you selected the time that’s right for you.
• Please do not submit your paper to the dropbox at the same time. If your coach would like a copy of your paper, they will email you to request it.
• Email your coach with 24 hours’ notice if you need to cancel.

During the appointment:

• Respect and professionalism are expected.
• Appointments are intended for the student and coach only. Please choose a quiet place where you are alone and can concentrate.
• It is good practice to always blur your background. This turns your personal space into a professional one.
• Please contact your coach if you are late or having difficulties joining the meeting. Please keep your phone nearby in case of technical difficulties.
• If you do not arrive after 5 minutes, the appointment will be canceled so we can support other students. We can assist you to reschedule if you need support. Please contact us.
  
  

  Your appointment may be rescheduled if you are in a distracting environment (i.e., excess noise, other people present, unprofessional images or items in the background). A quiet and professional learning environment is necessary to make the most of the appointment for both you and your coach.

5 minutes before the end of the appointment:

• Your coach will alert you to the notification that 5 minutes remain in your appointment. Please use the remaining 5 minutes to wrap up the conversation and end the appointment on time. You can ask your coach about booking a follow-up appointment if needed.
• Your coach will need to end the appointment on time in order to support other students.

After the appointment:

• Your coach will email you session notes or resources from your appointment.
• You can email your coach with follow-up questions.