FAQs for students

We highly recommend that you make an appointment to make sure that a tutor will be available to help you, but drop-in appointments are available. All appointments begin at the top of the hour, and no drop-in appointments will be available less than an hour from closing time.

Distance students may follow the same instructions that on-campus students use, which are on the homepage. Make an online appointment through indstate.mywconline.com

Be sure to come prepared for your session. Please bring your textbook, any relevant class notes, and a printed version of your paper. Remember that your tutor may be unfamiliar with your specific assignment, so bringing these materials will allow us to help you as much as possible. If you are a distance student, be on time; if you are more than 15 minutes late you will be marked as a no-show. Given that you arrive on time, you will have 50 minutes with your consultant. Your consultant will ask you questions about your assignment to help you identify where you are having trouble. He or she will not write on your paper, but may help you identify areas of the paper that need work. It is always up to you to make the recommended changes, and you will always maintain final say over your own work. On arrival and departure, you will be asked to swipe in and out with your ISU ID card.

If your professor requires or offers extra credit for visits to the ISUWC, let us know before your appointment starts. Afterwards, your consultant will scan your consultation sheet and send it to your professor so that he or she knows you were here. Be aware that if you do not ask for proof of attendance, it will not be sent. We value students' privacy and only provide this information by request. If you attend a workshop, you will be automatically given a slip of paper as proof of attendance. It is up to you to deliver this to your professor.

Lots of people need more than 50 minutes! You may schedule up to two appointments in one day and up to three appointments each week.

The ISU Writing Center does not guarantee grades, nor can we provide you with an estimate of what your grade will be if you visit. Your professor has the final say in grading. As you know, learning is a long process, so please do not expect to understand everything you need to know in one appointment.

Please keep in mind that the consultants in the ISU Writing Center are students, too. As such, they are always learning. Being a good writer isn't about having all the right answers memorized. It's about knowing how to use resources to find the answers. Your tutors may need to use books and web sources to find information. When this happens, the tutors are actually modeling for you how you can find the information you need on your own, and that is what the Writing Center is all about. We aren't here to fix your papers and give you the right answers. We're here to help you become more independent and confident writers. We appreciate your feedback though, especially if there's something we need to improve, so be sure to fill out an anonymous feedback form at the end of your session.

We close during finals week because the consultants are students and must study for their own exams. To offset this closure, we offer extra hours during study week.

If you are having trouble concentrating, just ask your consultant if you can move to a quiet space. He or she will happily honor your request. If you know when you make your appointment that you will want a quiet room, let us know and we will make a note of it.