An Inside Look at Writing Center Paper Review Appointments

Presented April 3, 2019

View the recording

Last updated 4/22/2019

 

 

Visual: Slide changes to the following: Housekeeping

  • Recording
    • Webinar is being recorded and will be available online a day or two from now.
  • Interact
    • Polls, files, and links are interactive.
  • Q&A
    • Now: Use the Q&A box to ask questions.
    • Later: Send to writingsupport@mail.waldenu.edu
  • Help
    • Choose “Help” in the upper right-hand corner of the webinar room

Audio: Michael:  All right, hello everyone. Welcome to tonight's webinar entitled An Inside Look at Writing Center Paper Reviews. I'm Michael Dusek, and I’m a Writing Instructor in the Walden Writing Center. I’ll be working behind the scenes tonight, of this webinar.

Before we begin and I hand the session over to today's presenter, Melissa, let me go through a few housekeeping items. First, we are recording this webinar so you are welcome to access it at a later date via our webinar archive. In fact, note that we record all of our webinars at the Writing Center, so you’re welcome to look through that archive for other recordings that might interest you, as well. Furthermore, we might mention a few webinars that would be a helpful follow-up during this session. So, feel free to explore the webinar archive at your own leisure.

Also, whether you are attending this webinar live or watching the recording, note that you'll be able to participate in polls that we use, files we share or links we provide. You can also access the PowerPoint slides Melissa will be sharing which is located in the Files pod.

Lastly, we also welcome questions and comments throughout the session via our Q&A box. I will be watching this Q&A box and I’m be happy to answer questions throughout the session as Melissa is presenting. You are welcome to send any tech questions to me, as well, although note, we have a help option in the top, right hand corner of your screen. This is Adobe's tech support, so this is really the best option if tech issues present. With that, I will hand it over to our presenter, Melissa Sharpe.

 

Visual: Slide changes to the title of the webinar, “An Inside Look at Writing Center Paper Review Appointments” and the speaker’s name and information: Melissa Sharpe, Writing Instructor.

Audio: Melissa:  Thanks, Michael. Hi everyone!  My name is Melissa Sharpe, and I am a Writing Instructor here at the Walden University Writing Center. And I want to thank you for joining me today for An Inside Look at Writing Center Paper Review Appointments.

 

Visual: Slide changes to the following: Objectives

  • PROCESS

Learn the process for scheduling a paper review appointment.

  • EXPECTATIONS

Learn what to expect in your paper review appointment.

  • APPLICATION

Identify how to make the most of the your appointment.

  • ACTION

Make an appointment today!

Audio: This is a really exciting webinar because for being a writing instructor here in the Writing Center, the paper review is kind of central to the work that I do every day, so I'm really glad to be able to share that with you and walk you through what they are, how to get a paper review with one of the instructors here and what to do, of course, after you have that document review.

So, the objectives for today's webinar are first, to look at the process of scheduling a paper review appointment, sort of the steps, what you will do to get that appointment, to create it and reserve your spot and of course, to retrieve your work when it's ready. We'll also talk about the expectation, what you can expect both in your paper review appointment, before it, things that you should do to prepare for the appointment or some guidelines to keep in mind about creating appointments, along with what you can expect once you have your reviewed document and what you will be doing with that after.

We'll also look at some ways to get the most out of your appointment and then, around the midpoint of today's webinar, we are going to take some time to actually create an appointment if you want one or, at least, register so that you will be able to create appointments in the future. So, there’s a lot we can work on today and a lot to go through in this webinar about paper reviews.

 

Visual: Slide changes to the following: What are paper review appointments?

Snapshot of a paper review document

              Creating specific treatment guidelines for transgender adolescents experiencing gender dysphoria is a difficult task for many reasons. The American population is vastly diverse, representing a wide variety of cultures. Cultural variance in gender norms, gender identities, and expression of gender identities are immense (Coleman et al, 2011). Some subcultures are quite supportive of gender diversity in children, and adolescents, assisting young people and their families as they consider medically transitioning, while in other subcultures transgender individuals experience extreme stigma and discrimination (Carroll, 2009; Coleman et al, 2011; Ehrensaft, 2012; Kellher, 2009; Sitherhan, Clemson & Diamond, 2011).

Comment [A3]: The topic sentence mentions many reasons, but the only reason provided is cultural. So, the actual content of the paragraph doesn’t really seem to fit the topic sentence. Howe could you revise the topic sentence to be better match?

              Most researchers who have examined the effects of stigma and discrimination faced by transgender adolescents in America or other Western cultures agree that denying them access to mental and physical health care to assist with their gender dysphoria can result in negative

Comment [A4]: Try not to end a paragraph with a cited statement. The last sentence of a paragraph is your place to give significance to the evidence. What should the reader be thinking about subcultures right now, based on your previous sentence?

See our Paragraphs web page, paying particular attention to the “Lead-Out” sentence: https://academicguides.waldenu.edu/writingcenter/paragraphs/organization

Audio: The first thing we're going to talk about, we're just going to define what those paper review appointments are, as it is such an important service that we provide and one that we're all excited about. We want to make sure that everybody here is familiar with what they are. And I noticed in the beginning we had that poll, it looks like most of you have never had a paper review appointment, and the majority of you also are not even registered to have one. So that will give us a lot to work with, today. And I'm glad that people are here exploring what the paper reviews are prior to making one.

What you see on the screen now is actually a snapshot of what your document might look like after it has had a paper review. And so, you can see that within your essay, you’ll find comments and notes and links and just feedback, really rich feedback from your Writing Instructor.

 

Visual: Slide changes to the following: Paper review appointments are…

  • Mini writing lessons.
  • A way to improve your writing, grammar, and APA skills long term.
  • An opportunity to receive feedback on past, current, and in-progress papers OR discussion posts.
  • Conducted by full-time, professional writing instructors.
  • Available for all undergraduate and master’s students and doctoral students’ coursework and premise and prospectus documents.

Audio: Paper review appointments, a way to define them or think of them, I think it's helpful to consider your paper review as being a little mini writing lesson. We take a look at your document and that could be a discussion post, that could be a longer assignment, it could be even your premise or your prospectus. And we take a look at whatever it is you are working on as writing instructors, we try to provide you with a writing lesson, something that you can practice both in the document and in future assignments.

As students -- undergraduate, graduate, if you're working on a capstone, even -- you're going to be doing a lot of research-based writing. So perhaps in one of your writing assignments, your instructor may notice room to better engage with the research and they might leave a comment on that and also give you some tips and tricks and strategies to incorporate research into your future work.

So that paper review appointment is not only there to help you improve that single assignment. We are there to provide you with instruction that you can take with you for the rest of your academic career. So, it's really helpful to think of the appointment as being a mini writing lesson. You're going to get help on that specific assignment, and you're also going to get something that you can take with you for all of your future work.

Paper review appointments are also a way to help improve your writing, overall. This can be any part of your writing skills. Like I said, using that research, organizing your ideas, developing points. And of course, we will help you improve your grammar and sentence structure and your APA skills. We want to be able to teach you these things so you're working on them over the long-term and over your entire academic career.

I think the earlier that you work with us for paper reviews on your assignments the better, because we just have more time to dig into these things, to answer your questions and provide you with the best resources that we have. I know that style guides like APA and MLA and Chicago manual, when you’re new to them there’s so much to understand and process and internalize. So, if you are able to share your work with us at the very beginning of your academic career, we can build on those throughout the entirety. And you can actually begin to internalize and learn those APA skills and guidelines.

Paper review appointments are also an opportunity for you to receive feedback on anything you're working on. So, I think when we initially consider having a paper review, we want to have one for something that is coming up to be due. However, note that we will review past assignments. So, if you have something that has already been graded and you're wondering, maybe, a way you could improve it, or if you're looking to find an area to work on, overall in your writing, we will look at work that has already been submitted and graded. So, you can receive feedback on something that has already been completed. So, you can receive feedback on past assignments. We will look at something you're currently working on; we’ll look at things that are in progress. So, if you're only halfway through a draft, that's okay. We'll take a look at that; it doesn't need to be complete. We’ll look at discussion posts, we will look at larger assignments. So, we will look at anything as part of your regular coursework.

Note that paper review appointments are also conducted by full-time, professional writing instructors. We have a pretty large staff for a Writing Center. I think, of all the centers I've worked in, this is the largest staff, and it's definitely the only one that has 100% full-time writing instructors, too. So that means we have a lot of people and a lot of time set aside to complete these paper review appointments.

Also, the appointments are available for any student who is in an undergraduate or master's program or doctoral program. One thing to note, if you are a doctoral student, we complete paper reviews for all of your coursework. We will also do reviews of the premise and prospectus. But from the proposal on up, you will work with the editor team, and that is not in the schedule I will be showing you today. So, if you are a doctoral student who has an approved prospectus at this time, this webinar may not give you the information you're looking for in terms of having that help with your proposal. However, if you are a doctoral student who is still in coursework or working on your premise or prospectus, you will be interested in this, because I'll show you how to use our scheduling system.

 

Visual: Slide changes to the following: Types of Feedback: Focus

  • Assignment Interpretation
  • Paper Topic
  • Thesis Statement
  • Organization
  • Idea Development
  • Clarity
  • Cohesion and Flow
  • Scholarly Tone
  • APA
  • Sentence Structure
  • Punctuation and Grammar
  • Positive Feedback

Audio: When you have a paper review appointment, the whole goal of it, of course, is for you to receive all types of feedback on your work. And as a Writing Instructor when we leave feedback, there are a few different things we may focus on. Here on the screen you see a few things we might focus on during the appointment.

I know for my own process; I tend to first look at the overall main idea and how it's developed throughout a piece. So that's typically where I start with my comments. Then a lot of times, I will move into the organization and use of research and explanation to support that idea and organize it throughout. Some other writing instructors may start at a different place when they leave their feedback. But you will notice that we will touch on a ton of different writing related topics when we are leaving you feedback.

Yes, we do hope you consider your scholarly tone, and that style of your writing. We will also, of course, look at the clarity of your idea from beginning to end. If you provide us with a copy of your directions, we can help see how it aligns with those directions and how you have interpreted it. As a new reader, can we understand what it is you're saying? And does it seem to be on the topic you were asked to write about?

That's really one of the benefits of having somebody from the Writing Center read your work, because we are a totally new, fresh set of eyes. We are coming in without any background information or context. So if  somebody, if you're looking to make sure your ideas are clear, having somebody who has no clue, who has never looked at it before, is a great place to start, because if I can read what you wrote from beginning to end and understand it, then you know your clarity is really solid.

So, there are all different things we focus on when it comes to completing your paper review. And of course, no two appointments are exactly the same, even for something you are working on. So, note that we will look at a wide range of topics during your paper review appointment.

 

Visual: Slide changes to the following: Types of Feedback: Format

  • Text
  • Comment bubbles
  • Track changes
  • Highlighting
  • Visual
  • Highlighting
  • Graphic organizers

Audio: When you receive your feedback from us, it will also appear in a couple different ways. We do provide textual feedback. So, when you look at your paper you will see comment bubbles in the margin. This allows us to highlight a specific part of your writing and leave you a note about it off to the side. So there typically are a lot of comment bubbles throughout in order to identify trends or things that we see. It makes it easy for you to locate exactly what we're talking about, because the text is highlighted that that comment is about. So, when we say something like, "I'm not really sure how this quote is tying in to the rest of the paragraph," you’ll know exactly what quote, because it is highlighted and attached to the comment.

We often will use Track Changes in Word which is a feature that allows us to go in and type within your document or make changes within your document and it will note those in a different color. That color depends on your personal setting. I believe the default is some sort of pink or red. So, when you get your document back, you will see changes made as if somebody had even taken a pen to your work, and you’ll be able to identify those areas because of that difference in color.

Sometimes we use Track Changes as well. I know that a lot of instructors will also use highlighting, so we may highlight things in your document. If we're talking about topic sentences, it's making sure there's a strong topic sentence in each paragraph, maybe we will go through other potential topic sentences in your work. That way you will be able to scroll through and locate those see about moving them to the beginning of each paragraph.

In my appointments, I tend to leave a large introduction note at the very top of your page right where I break down the review and give you some things to pay attention for before you start scrolling through. So, you might also find text feedback at the front of your review. And some instructors leave it at the end.

There's also visual forms of feedback that you may receive which, again, includes highlighting, which makes it easy for you to identify things. Sometimes I'll even highlight my own comment bubbles if there's a lot going on in the document like existing edits, sometimes I will highlight my work to make it stand out. I have even occasionally included a graphic organizer like a flowchart just to show the relationship between ideas. So, when you receive feedback, it may appear in some of these different formats.

 

Visual: Slide changes to the following: Types of Feedback: Supporting Resources

  • Links
    • Writing Center website
    • Webinars
    • Modules
    • Blog
    • Videos
  • Examples
  • Within comments
  • Within text
  • Through links

Audio: Within our feedback, we also like to provide a lot of supporting resources for you. And one of the things that we do is we will link to our Writing Center resources. So, if we are talking about, say, your thesis statement, in addition to the comment and feedback and tips, we might even like you to a page on our website about thesis statements. That way if you want to know more you can click that link, follow it and read more about thesis statements.

 

Linking out to our resources also allows you to customize that feedback, so if you need more information, you have a link right to it. You wouldn't have to, say, email us a follow-up question trying to find it. So, we do like to link to our resources, because it helps you find additional information if you need it. Some of the most common places link to are, of course, pages on our website. We also link you to webinar recordings. We have a ton of webinars on all sorts of writing related topics. So, if you need help with citations, we can link you to a citation webinar.

We may also link you to our modules. And modules are self-paced, sort of mini lessons on a variety of topics. We may also link you to blog posts or videos that we have and again, these links are just there to provide you with additional information should you want to explore a topic further.

We also like to share examples as a supporting resource. Those examples may appear inside those comment bubbles. They may appear inside your text as a Track Change. And again, sometimes the examples will actually appear to those links that we share.

An example of something would show you a topic in action, but perhaps outside of your paper.

So, I guess an example of an example, if I were reading a work and I saw that a sentence wasn't quite clear because there was a really lengthy list in it, perhaps I might give you an example of different ways to present a list in a sentence that we are not overwhelming. Maybe that would be breaking into two sentences, or ensuring use of parallel structure. So, in order to help you see the concept, I’d give you a hypothetical example off to the side in my comment bubbles and I would also probably link you to the page under website about how to list. We have a page on the website, yes, about how to list following different APA guidelines.

So, when you receive feedback from us, we like to share supporting resources, so that if you need more information, you will know exactly where to go and you won’t have to search their website or email us a follow-up question.

 

Visual: Slide changes to the following: Paper Review Logistics

  • Create an account in the myPASS schedule / Choose appropriate schedule
  • Receive feedback within 2 days (day of appointment or day after)
  • Asynchronous (no live communication)
  • Include concerns, questions, and goals in appointment form

Audio: We're going to take a look at some of the logistics of having a paper review, now that you know what goes into one and what to expect. In order to have a paper review appointment with us, you do need to create an account in our scheduling system, which is called myPASS. We do not take papers through our email, if you just email us an attach a paper, we don't review if there. Everything has to be placed within the myPASS schedule so that you can reserve your spot. We will be creating accounts in myPASS today, in just a few minutes. So, if you don't have one, we’ll make sure you're signed up and registered and ready to go.

Once you are logged in to myPASS, we do have different schedules, so it's important that you choose the one that is accurate to what you're working on. We have an undergraduate schedule which is for our undergraduate students. We have a graduate schedule which is where students in Masters and doctoral programs who are working on their coursework or a Masters capstone can submit their work. Then, we have the preproposal schedule, and this is where you can share your premise and prospectus.

The reason for having the three different schedules is that it of course helps to keep us organized, and also because we do use different techniques and approaches when reviewing certain work, particularly the premise and the prospectus. Not all instructors work on every schedule. You’ll notice some may work on three, some on two, some on one. So, it is important that you choose the most appropriate schedule for your appointment.

Once you have that appointment reserved, you will receive feedback within two days, that means the day of your appointment or the day after. That turnaround time is something we like to guarantee for you. But it is important to note that there is a two-day turnaround time. So, if you make an appointment, say you were to grab an opening right now, today, it doesn't necessarily mean your paper would be reviewed before the end of today. It may be read and reviewed the following. So that's something to keep in mind when you make your appointment, there is a two-day turnaround time.

Note that you can make appointments in advance, so you can reserve a spot next week and then attach your work when it's ready. This way, you wouldn’t have to worry about making an appointment the day your draft is ready, because it may be difficult to have a same-day appointment. You can reserve a spot ahead of time.

When you reserve your appointment time, note that, even though there are times on our schedule which we’ll look at today, the reviews are asynchronous, which means there is no live communication. Your appointment may be in the 10 o'clock slot, but you do not have to meet with anybody live in a chat or phone call or video call. It is all asynchronous.

So, you will attach your paper to that appointment. Your Writing Instructor will download it, provide feedback and then attach it to the appointment, again, for you to be able to download. So, paper reviews are all asynchronous. There's no need to meet live. This way, we accommodate everybody's schedules.

In the appointment form, when you create your appointment, you’ll notice that there are quite a few boxes you can share with us details about what you're working on. And this way you will be able to tell us anything you're concerned about, questions you may have, what you're working on, writing goals you have. There's a lot of room for you to provide context and details and leave a note for us, that way it's not just an attachment. We get to have some backstory from you and some details from you.

 

Visual: Slide changes to the following: Paper Review Policies

  • Use the appropriate schedule
  • Attach document by 5am EST the day of the appointment
  • Attach work as a Word document
  • Make revisions in between appointments for same document

Audio: When it comes to the paper review appointments, there are several policies just to help them flow smoothly and to ensure that you get the most out of that appointment. And the first one, as I mentioned earlier, is you want to make sure you're using the most appropriate schedule. That is because we do have slightly different approaches, especially when looking at the premise and prospectus. But also, because there's different staff on this schedule, sometimes. So, you want to make sure you've chosen the right schedule. If you're an undergraduate working on a bachelor's degree, the undergraduate is for you. If you're a graduate student in the master's or doctoral program working on your regular coursework, we have the graduate schedule, sorry. Then, there's the preproposal for students who are working on the premise or the prospectus.

Another policy we have is, even though you are allowed to reserve an appointment slot with us up to two weeks in advance, we want you to have that document attached by 5:00 AM Eastern, the day of the appointment. So right now, if I know that I have a discussion post due next week and I want to have it reviewed on Tuesday, I can go ahead and log in to myPASS and I can make an appointment for Tuesday and then not attachment my work until Monday night. That's fine. That way, it will reserve the spot for you.

We do ask that you attach work as Word documents. Any other sort of document does not allow us to use those really rich features that we have in Word, the comment bubbles and the Track Changes. So, Word documents are the only thing we review. We cannot review PDF documents, we don’t review Power Points, and we don't review any sort of, I guess, static version of Word. So, perhaps maybe you have saved a Word document as a PDF, for some reason, to trap it as it is. We can't review that. Even though it was originally a Word document, if you have saved it in some other format, we don't have access to those comments and to the track Changes. So please make sure you are attaching your work as a Word document.

We also ask that you make revisions in between appointments, specifically for if you have two appointments for the same document. So, if you submit a discussion post to us on Monday and then you want somebody else to review it again on Wednesday, we do want you to make revisions in between those. The reason for this is it gives us something new to comment on. If you submit the exact same document twice in a row, you're probably going to get very similar feedback on both of those. So, we ask that you make revisions in between your appointments when working on the same document. We also ask that you make those revisions throughout the entire document. Again, that gives us more to work with, it helps you grow as a writer.

 

Visual: Slide changes to the following: Creating an appointment – visit

Audio: So, we're going to talk about creating an appointment so that you'll be able to understand the steps to register and sign up for a paper review appointment. Here on this slide there is a link to myPASS and that would be that waldenu.mywconline.net address. There's also a link on here for a video tutorial for signing in if you have a problem or get stuck as we walk through this. Note that after I share the steps with you, we will pause to give you time to register and look at the schedules and practice clicking around and even reserving a spot within one of our schedules.

Here's what the login screen looks like for myPASS. If you are a returning user, you will be able to login with the email address and password you created when you originally signed up for myPass. And underneath that login button is the drop-down window that will allow you to choose the appropriate schedule. So, this is where you want to make sure that you have chosen the schedule that best represents what is you are currently working on.

A lot of you are new to myPASS, so you will want to click the link that says register for an account. It is kind of small, but it is that very first line above where to sign in So if you have never created an account with us before, you have to click Register in order to create that account. So, if you are new to myPASS, this is exactly where you will want to click we take a look at that site and give you the time to sign up.

 

Visual: Slide changes to the following: Select an appointment date

  1. myPASS direct link
  2. myWalden portal:
    • Academics Tab
    • Schedule Appointment
    • Writing Center

Audio: Once you have signed in, you are going to see the schedule, and this is what the schedule looks like. You will see the date for, I think it usually starts on the current date and will show you seven days in advance. There is a calendar that would appear slightly above the schedule you are looking at now where you can flip back and forth. So if you want to go back and look at the previous week, maybe if you have an appointment then, or if you wanted to look ahead to the next week because you want to reserve that spot far in advance, there is a calendar there that will allow you to do that.

For each day you will see the names of the people who are working that day and all of their openings. Like I said earlier, there are times on the schedules however we don't worry about those times, because our appointments are all asynchronous.

When you're looking at the schedule, you will notice that all the white boxes indicate open appointments. If you see a white box on the schedule, that is a time you can reserve for your appointment. Anything else is blocked off, either it is an appointment that is already reserved, or it is slots that, that instructor currently is not filling.

As I said, don't worry about those times, that's not the time your paper will be reviewed. That's not the time your paper has to be uploaded by. Those are just there to organize the day into different blocks because we need something to separate the first, second fourth and potentially fifth appointment of the day.

Something else I want to point out here is there is a little clock next to the date. If you happen to be looking at the schedule and everything is full, there aren't any white boxes available, that means that date is fully booked. But you can sign up for a waiting list. To do that, all you have to do is click the little clock next to the date. We select that, you will be added to a waiting list and it will ask your contact preferences. So, if something opens up, you will receive an email or text or whatever you choose, notifying you that there's an opening. Then you can sign in and grab that opening.

 

Visual: Slide changes to the following: A look at our appointment forms

Audio: Let's take a look at what the appointment form looks like. Once you have selected an opening and you’ve clicked on that white box, the appointment form will open and you will be able to see some information about your instructor, first, at the very top of the appointment form. And this is a way to help you get to know us better. Everybody here in the Writing Center, even though we do have writing backgrounds, we also have other professional focus, in terms of what we have done as writers, maybe what we have studied as undergraduates, even some of our graduate degrees vary a little bit. So, looking at this biography can help you get to know us a little better.

You’ll also notice a disclaimer that the appointment blocks are all one hour, because that's how we organize the day. However, within that hour, your Writing Instructor has some room as to the amount they are spending reviewing and also doing administrative tasks related to the paper review. Typically, we split it up so that we try to focus on that paper for about 30 minutes, then 30 minutes of related tasks to the review. However, this of course varies, but note that if you were to submit a 40-page document, you would probably not have all 40 pages of reviewed.

 

Visual: Slide changes to the following: PowerPoint presentation

Audio: Further down on the appointment form, you will be able to see the date that you have selected. This will allow you to confirm that you are having your paper review on the date you actually want it to be.

We also have a reminder that the appointment is asynchronous, so remember, you don't have to meet with anybody live. There's also a reminder of the policy that we need that paper attached by 5:00 AM Eastern on the day of the appointment. That way, your instructor has it in time to work on it. Something else to note, if you make a same-day appointment, please attach a paper the moment you make that same date appointment.

Next, we ask you for some of the information about what you're submitting. It helps if we know the course name and number, that can provide some context for us to know what you're working on. We also have a drop-down menu that lets us know what kind of assignment you're working on. That could be a discussion post or a longer paper or a Masters capstone, there's a whole bunch of options -- and I should have these memorized from looking at them every day. But if you can tell us what type of assignment it is that you are submitting, again, that just gives us more context before we start the review.

 

Visual: Slide changes to the following: PowerPoint presentation

  • Update on your progress
  • Where should we start/focus?
  • What are you hoping to get out of your appointment?
  • Let us know where you are in the writing process

Audio: Next on the appointment form, we do ask you for an update on your progress. We like to know what you've been working on since your last appointment. This is also to know what you have revised, but also to know if there's something you happen to be working on. Maybe you're really, really working on concluding a piece of writing. So, if you've been working on conclusions and you let us know that, we'll be able to take time to look at your conclusion and perhaps give you additional tips for concluding entire pieces of writing or concluding individual paragraphs.

It's also helpful if you tell us where you would like the review to start, or if there's a particular section you would like us to focus on. So, if you have a really long document, you have that 40-page final paper, and you want us just to look at pages 10 through 13, you can tell us that right here and that way we do exactly what to look at.

If you do not share where you want the review to start, I usually just start on page 1. Of course, if that's fine with you, you could just put that there. But if there something in particular you want your instructor to focus on, this is the place to let us know that.

We also ask about your writing because we want to know, what are you hoping to get out of your appointment? If there's something you're working on or something that you hope to walk away with at the end of that review, tell us here so your instructor is able to focus on that as they're leaving their feedback.

We also like to know where you are in the writing process. This is helpful if you are submitting a partial draft. If the draft is complete you can just tell us this is a complete draft. If it's a partial draft you can just let us know that it is a partial draft. The reason for that is, if you tell us that you're still working on a draft, I know I would not point out, "Hey, this doesn't feel like it's done, yet. Here's some ways ... " because I know you're finishing it. So, if you're only partly through a draft, it's okay to let us know that.

 

Visual: Slide changes to the following: PowerPoint presentation

  • What are your concerns regarding this draft?
  • Click “Save Appointment” to save form

Audio: Next on the appointment form, we like to know if there's anything you just want your instructor to know. Do you have any concerns, what you want us to focus on? This is a great place to leave a little note for us. Anything that you feel like telling us before we complete the review, this is the place to go ahead and put that.

Something else, either here or in the attachments, you could share with us the directions, if you want us to have those. Sometimes, having the directions provides a little bit of context as to what you are expected to write about and include. And some students like to share that. So, you can always attach that to your appointment, too, just as you will attach your writing. Or, you can, sometimes I have students copy and paste little bit of that in and include it here in that box, and that works for me too.

At this point you are ready to click Save. I know there's a lot of information that goes into this, filling out this information form because there are so many boxes. But this really allows you to let us know what you want us to focus on and what you want to look at and what you want to get out the paper review. The more detail you give us, the more that we will feel familiar with your writing and will be able to focus on it in the way that you want.

 

Visual: Slide changes to the following: PowerPoint presentation

  • Attach a file immediately
  • Attach a file later

Audio: If you see this screen after pressing Save, your appointment has been saved. It will let you know that it was successful.

Now you have two choices. First, you can attach a file right then. So, if you are ready and you have your draft or your partial draft or your outline, whatever you're working on, if you have that document saved and ready to go, you can click right there and attach it, and then the appointment is ready. However, if you're reserving a spot in the future and you will attach your draft the night before the appointment, you will attach a file later, so it's okay just to close the window.

 

Visual: Slide changes to the following: PowerPoint presentation

  • Upload your file in a .doc or .docx form (no PDFs of PPTs)
  • Give your document a title
  • Finalize the process

Audio: Let's say you do choose to attach the document right than. You will see this file. And here in this file, you will be given the choice to choose a file. And when you click this button, you will have access to all the documents on your computer and you will be able to select the one that you want us to review. I suggest opening it first in Word to make sure it really is the document that you want to attach. If you attach the wrong one, that could lead to some confusion. And again, make sure that it is a Word Doc it should have the.doc or.docx extension. Again, we do not look at PDFs and we do not review Power Points.

You can go ahead and give your document a title, this is just be the text we click on to open it. Then when you press upload file, that file will be attached to your appointment and will be ready for the instructor to review it.

And here is what that looks like. This student, and that document title box types My Paper. So, for both your view and of course, mine as the instructor, this is what it looks like. When we click that Download My Paper Button, we are able to access the writing.

 

Visual: Slide changes to the following: To add a paper later:

Audio: Let's say you have chosen to reserve a spot in the future and want to attach a paper later, that's fine. When you're ready to share your draft with us, you will log back in to MyPASS and you will click on this yellow folder. Then, that yellow folder will give you access to your existing appointment, where you can go ahead and follow the instructions from the previous slide that we looked at where you get to choose the file and name it.

This button will also give you access to your appointment if you need to, say, update your document at any time or make a change to that appointment form. That yellow file folder is the button you click and it gives you access to your appointments that are currently reserved in  the schedule.

 

Visual: Slide changes to the following: Student Best Practices

  • Plan ahead; make appointments early and often
  • Clearly communicate
  • Apply feedback throughout work
  • Remember that writing is a process

Audio: Some best practices to keep in mind, you want to plan ahead and make these appointments early enough to receive feedback. As I noted, there is that two day turnaround, so if you have something that has to be submitted on a Sunday and you know that you're going to take Saturday to finish working on it which means you want your feedback to five Friday, you should make that appointment on Thursday. So, working backwards that way will help you ensure that you have your appointments scheduled and that they will be completed in time for you to make your visions.

Also, communicate with us. You have that whole appointment form we went through, we had to flip through three slides to make all the way through the appointment form. There's plenty of places for you to share with us what it is you're working on and what you want us to focus on. We also do have an email address where you can reach out to us if you need to. That's writingsupport@mail.waldenu.edu.

Something else that we want you to keep in mind is, we do want you to apply feedback throughout your entire document, so we may leave a note about, say, how to cite a quote in one paragraph, and ideally, we want you to take that feedback and apply it throughout your entire essay. Just because there's only one comment about it doesn't mean there's only one change to make.

The reason for all of this is, writing is a process and we want to work on you throughout that process, but we also want to help you learn what process works for you and to help you grow as a writer. So, these paper review appointments are not a place for you to submit your work as if you can give it to us and it’ll come out perfectly clean and polished and ready to go. The paper review appointment is really about the writing process and helping you own your process. So, you can submit it to us and receive feedback. From there, it's up to you as a writer. That's your document, you own it, you get to make those changes and make these important writerly decisions about what it is you are going to do to that paper from that point until submission.

So, when you create that appointment with us, note that we like you to remember that you are the writer and you are in charge of that document.

 

Visual: Slide changes to the following: Your turn! Follow these steps:

  1. Create an account in myPASS (or log-in if you already have one): https://waldenu.mywconline.net/
  2. Log-in, choose the right schedule, and find an open (white) appointment this or next week.
  3. Click the appointment slot and complete the form.
  4. Save the appointment form and attach paper (if appointment is today or you are ready).
    • Otherwise, come back and attach paper by 5:00 a.m. ET day of appointment.

Questions?

Now: Ask me!  ●  Later: writingsupport@mail.waldenu.edu OR Live Chat

Audio: Okay, we're going to take a few minutes here for you to practice creating an account in myPASS. If you have an account, it would be great for you to log in and look at the appointments. If you want to check on the different schedules, you can. Maybe just want to pick the schedule that applies for you. I want you to try to find an opening, a white spot, somewhere on that appointment, either this week or next week. If you are interested please do reserve enter that appointment, fill out the form. If you are not ready to have a review done, just take a look at the schedule. You don't have to reserve a spot, of course, if you're not working on something. But ideally, you should be able to create an account and look at the schedule and get comfortable clicking around and looking to see what goes into reserving a paper spot.

Then if you're already and have a paper you can go ahead and attach it now or of course, just save that appointment and go back and attach it later. I want to give you quite a few minutes to work on this. However, before I send everybody over to the myPASS schedule, I just want to check in with Michael to see if there any questions I should answer that will help you register and navigate and potentially create an appointment.

Michael:  Hey, Melissa, thanks. We had a couple of questions about some tech issues and about some turnarounds in terms of the Writing Center reviews right there. But I think we are probably good. I don't think there's anything that would benefit the larger group.

Melissa:  Okay, thank you. If you do have questions as you're working on this, use that Q&A box so that Michael is able to answer that question for you as you create the appointment. So, at this point, I would like everybody to click the link on the screen or you could copy it and paste it, that is that https://waldenu.mywconline.net. And then, go ahead and create an account if you don't have one already. And log in and take a look at the schedules, if you find a white spot schedule an appointment and save it. When you are done, there is a poll here that will let me know where you are in the process. After you’ve registered and looked at the schedule, please come here and let me know if you’ve made an appointment on a particular day, or if you did not. Completing the poll is really helpful, because then I know when to move on to the next part of the webinar.

I also have a chat box open for you to let us know how it went. Was it easy to use, did you have trouble finding something? Were you able to register? Just let us know how it went in that chat box, I will check in with all of the in a few minutes when it looks like we have all registered and taken a look at the schedules.

[silence as students register for myPass]

Okay everyone, I want to check in with you. It looks like you a lot of you have registered with myPASS and a few of you have registered that are not making an appointment. It looks like most of the registering has gone smoothly, so I'm glad to hear that.

We are going to take a look at what to do after you have your appointment. If you have any questions about using myPASS or if you have registered but did not make an appointment, and then when you go to make an appointment, you need a reminder of what to do and where to go, remember, you can email us questions at writingsupport@mail.waldenu.edu. We also do offer live chat hours and you can find the schedule on our center homepage. The hours do vary by day. I want to thank all of you for taking the time here to register, to use myPASS, this way you will be registered when you do want to have something reviewed.

 

Visual: Slide changes to the following: Making the Most of your Feedback

Audio: After you have submitted your work and we have left feedback and you retrieved that feedback; you probably want to know okay, what do I do now that I've made this appointment and its complete and I have all of this feedback?

 

Visual: Slide changes to the following: Reviewing Feedback

  • Intro or conclusion note
  • Comment bubbles
  • Notes in-text

Audio: We do ask you to, of course, review our feedback. You will notice that there is an introduction or conclusion note, this is probably going to be a longer piece of feedback that gives you an overview of what the instructor looked at. Remember you will also have comment bubbles in margins and you have notes in text and comments in the margins, so there will be a lot feedback for you to look at, and we don't want you to miss any of that.

 

Visual: Slide changes to the following: Using Feedback

  • Review comments

Reoccurring themes or topics?

  •  

Choose revision plan

  • Start revision

Review any supporting materials

Use instructor tips

Apply change throughout draft

  • Audit revision

Does this make sense with the paper?

Do I understand the changes?

Should I make a follow up appointment?

writingsupport@mail.waldenu.edu

Audio: Now once you have reviewed the feedback you actually have to put it to use. So of course, start off by reviewing those comments and see if you can find any recurring themes or topics. If something is brought up over and over again, that might be a priority revision for you, because it's something that is reoccurring.

You also want to make sure that our comments, that you understand them, that they are clear to you and that you feel able to apply that feedback. We are, of course, always available to you at that writingsupport@mail.waldenu.edu email address if you have questions. And then after you look at the comments, you want to make a revision plan for yourself. Perhaps this is a list of priorities, what you're going to do first, second and third. Maybe we'll think about chunks of time that you want to set aside for your revision. Maybe you have looked at some of the resources we have linked to it and you're going to note which ones to really dig into and spend time on. That revision plan is up to you. However, you do want to review the comments and make a revision plan before you actually start revising.

When you're ready to start revising, of course review any of the supporting materials we have linked to you, the comments and tips that we have left for you. Those are there for you to use. Then, we again ask that you apply that change, changes throughout the entire draft. We may talk to you about a specific topic in one paragraph, but that does not mean that is the only place where that revision should occur. We want you to take that tip and take that suggestion and see if you can apply it elsewhere throughout your writing. That's a very important part of growing as a writer and really owning your writing process. If you can take a strategy and tip and apply it yourself throughout the rest of the document and in future work, that means you are internalizing that skill. In the future, you may not even need feedback on how to make that same revision.

And when you're done, we do like to audit revisions, this is one of the hardest things for me to do as a writer, because I really drag my feet when it comes to revising, I never want to do it. And once I’ve done it, I don't want to keep thinking about it. However, when you are done revising, it's a good habit to audit that revision. That means anytime you make a change, you don't want to make a change just for the sake of making a change. You want to ask yourself does that change make sense with the rest of the paper? Do you understand it? Remember it is your writing. Just because someone has suggested something doesn't mean you should automatically do it. Then you want to ask yourself, do I need a follow-up appointment, now that I have revised this document, do I need somebody to look at it again to or am I ready to submit it?

 

Visual: Slide changes to the following: Track Changes

Audio: Something else that you’ll want to note when you get your work back, if we have used Track Changes, you will want to either accept or reject those changes. And in order to do that, you should navigate to the Review section of that ribbon that’s at the top of Word when you access the review section, you will see that Track Changes box, and there are a few different options here, where you can go through and accept individual changes or reject individual changes or accept all, reject all. I don't recommend doing accept all or reject all, because you may not know what all of those little Track Changes are. Sometimes we leave little notes for you in the middle of paragraphs and you don't want to accept, have a note to you in the middle of your writing. So, it does help to go through and look at all those Track Changes and accept and reject.

Something else, if your Word default has been changed in any sort of way, the Track Changes may not be easily visible. So, in that Track Changes box, you will be able to choose to look at all markup, and that will show you all of the edits.

If you need help with this, the Academic Skills Center does provide Word help, and they have a page all about Track Changes, how to accept, reject, review, and just generally navigate and deal with Track Changes in a document.

 

Visual: Slide changes to the following: Don’t take our word for it!

  • “I was hesitant about using this service at first because I didn't understand how having someone critiquing my writing would be helpful. I was very wrong! This has been a great experience and I have been pleased with each experience with the writing center staff. I wish I had the understanding and confidence to schedule appointments with them earlier on in this process.”
  • “I thought having asynchronous meeting will diminish the effectivity of the appointment but it did not. I will continue to use the service throughout my time here at Walden!”
  • “My instructor was very helpful. I consider myself a poor writer and they were able to give me corrections, reasons for corrections, and further reading on the subject so I don't make the same error twice. I appreciate their encouragement throughout the paper when making recommendations. They made this process fun!”

Audio: Now, I have shared a lot about paper review appointments, and I opened this webinar expressing how much I enjoy completing them, and I think it's the most important service that we provide. However, here on the slide, you will see some of the student feedback we have about our paper review appointments. So, you can take a moment here to read through these, or, of course, you can download today's slides from the files pod. That will give you access to all of the information I shared along with all of the links, too. So if you want to go back and check out any of those supporting resources, you can find them in the slides and of course, you can take a look at some of these student testimonials about our paper review appointments and how helpful they were and all the great things that can come out from having a fresh set of eyes read your work.

 

Visual: Slide changes to the following: Questions:

Now: Let us know! ·          Anytime: writingsupport@mail.waldenu.edu

Continue the conversation on Twitter with

#WaldenU

Learn more about paper reviews and Writing Center services:

Check out the Paper Reviews webpage and the Quick Answer: What resources does the Writing Center provide for students?

Audio: This brings us to the end of the webinar. And before we wrap up, we do have a couple minutes, so if there are any questions that have come in, I want to give Michael a moment to ask those so that I can answer them for you, and then, we can wrap up for the day.

Michael:  Thanks, Melissa. I'm seeing some more questions about accessing papers, submitting papers, deadlines and things like that, but I think you've pretty much covered that in this webinar. From there, if you have questions beyond this webinar, I would reach out to writingsupport@mail.waldenu.edu. They are able to address individual circumstances. If you are having tech issues, they will be able to help you get registered for myPASS and make an appointment there. Beyond this, then, we also have a Twitter presence in the Writing Center and you can check out the Paper Review's webpage, which is under the Walden Writing Center webpage heading, it's on the left side of the page. You can go down to Paper Reviews in the first drop down menu.

With that, I'm going to wrap up this webinar. I hope you have a good evening, and thank you all for participating.

[END OF TRANSCRIPT]