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The best way to schedule an appointment is online via our scheduling page at . If you鈥檒l be visiting the Ott for the first time, plan to set up a free account first before you book your appointment. Follow the link that says: First visit? Register for an account.

No draft? No worries. Keep your appointment. We can help with brainstorming, getting organized, and planning next steps.

If you do decide to cancel, please do so ahead of time and with as much advance notice as possible. Demand for appointments often exceeds availability, so canceling an appointment you can鈥檛 use gives another writer a chance to get help.

To cancel an appointment:

• online: sign into our scheduling site using your email address and password, and click on your scheduled appointment. A pop-up window will appear: scroll down and click CANCEL THIS APPOINTMENT. This will give others a chance to sign up for your appointment slot.
• phone: call us at (414) 288-5542.
• email: write to us at writingcenter@marquette.edu.

We welcome walk-in appointments onsite at Raynor 240.

Be advised: Some weeks demand for appointments exceeds supply, so we encourage you to plan ahead. Look through your syllabi to see when assignments are due; skim your personal calendar to see when you might be available, and then visit our scheduling page to book one or more appointments throughout the semester.

Writers are in charge of their 30- or 60-minute appointments, so tutors usually start by asking what they would like to do. There is no one right answer to that question. Writers come to the Ott to brainstorm, outline, organize, analyze, or revise their work. They come to get started, and they come to get unstuck. Some writers come to the Ott for a final read-through, while others come for 鈥渨rite togethers鈥� or appointments where tutors and writers sit together and work independently on their own writing.

If you have a draft, plan to read it aloud or listen to your tutor read it. We find that reading the draft aloud (or hearing a tutor read it aloud) often helps writers get some critical distance. If you don't have a draft, no worries. Your tutor will help you brainstorm.

Taking notes during an appointment can be helpful. Feel welcome to type or write notes throughout or at the end of your appointment. You can also ask your tutor to take notes, if you would find that helpful, especially if you are brainstorming or thinking aloud.

Ott tutors are trained to help all writers, which means they can help even when they are unfamiliar with the subjects their writers are studying and writing about. We draw on our familiarity with common genres of writing and look carefully at your assignment for cues on what your instructor values.  In fact, our relative lack of content knowledge can often be helpful: you're the expert and often explaining your fuzzy ideas can make them clearer to both writer and tutor.

At the Ott, we do not correct or copyedit papers, but we do help writers with grammar, usage, and citations. Specifically, we talk with writers about those aspects of a specific piece of their own writing in order to help them grow what they know and apply that knowledge to their own work.

When writers arrive for an onsite appointment at Raynor 240, they may be greeted by a tutor at our reception desk, or there may be tutors in our common room ready to say welcome. Sometimes, however, tutors will be busy tutoring, and our common room will be empty. When that happens, writers should come on in, have a seat, and know that someone will be right with them!

On site, appointments take place in our quiet conference rooms. Each one has a table and 2-3 chairs plus at least one electrical outlet in case writers need to plug anything in. Rooms are stocked with paper, pencils, and pens, and the Ott has additional equipment that writers can borrow, including laptops, a sunlight lamp, weighted blankets, and fidget spinners. Writers can request these items when they make their appointments, or they can ask tutors at the start or at any point during a session.

Online appointments are organized through the writing center鈥檚 online platform, WCOnline.  on how to create an account, schedule appointments, and participate in remote tutorials. 

Tutors sometimes ask to record an appointment. We ask because it's part of our ongoing professional development.  We'd be grateful if you said yes, but we'll completely understand if you say no.  Our priority is that you feel at ease during our time talking together.

There鈥檚 no one right way to plan for an appointment at the Ott, but these preliminary steps may help:

• Put the date and time of your appointment on your calendar and send yourself one or more reminders if you think you might forget.
• Think about what you would like to accomplish during your appointment and be ready to share your goals with your tutor.
• Be aware of rules and guidelines that apply to your writing, including word counts or page lengths, source requirements and citation styles, and policies or expectations regarding AI-use.
• Have easy access to materials related to your writing, including assignment sheets or prompts, notes you have taken, and readings you will be referring to.

The Ott is located in Raynor 240. If you walk up the stairs (or get off the elevator) , turn your back to the Bridge then walk towards the far left hand corner (towards Wisconsin Ave).

Online, we鈥檙e at .

• In order to meet the demand for appointments, we limit writers to 120 minutes of one-on-one appointments per week. (We happily make exceptions for walk-ins or during a slow week: we won't turn writers away if a tutor is available.)

• In order to be fair to all the writers who wish to schedule appointments or take advantage of walk-ins, we have policies for late and missed appointments
• If you arrive 5 minutes late to a 30-minute appointment or 10 minutes late to a 60-minute appointment, we will cancel that appointment so that we can better accommodate walk-ins. (If you know you are running late, please call us.) This type of cancellation is a 鈥渘o-show.鈥�
• If you accumulate two no-shows during a single semester, you will not be able to schedule appointments for the remainder of the semester鈥攁lthough you may continue to use walk-in appointments.