Following are some important aspects of our appointment policies. All of these policies apply to BOTH face-to-face and online sessions.
We encourage students to make appointments. However, many students habitually miss their appointments without contacting the Writing Center to cancel. Additionally, students frequently cancel at the last minute.
Both no shows and last-minute cancellations may not allow students who want an appointment to have one. Furthermore, this lack of consideration infringes on our staff’s time.
Therefore, there are consequences for missing appointments without cancelling appropriately. Missing appointments and/or not contacting us at least 12 hours in advance to cancel are considered appointment policy violations. When two such violations occur within 30 days , the student is not permitted to schedule any more appointments for 20 days. The student may still use our services, but only on a walk-in basis. Students who violate the appointment policy receive email notices from the Writing Center's Penji community to remind them of our policy and to let them know how many violations they have.
Please be considerate of other students and our staff by making appointments carefully.
Students may have only one 1-hour session per day. After that time period, writers need to continue to work on their own before having another session. We also want to make sure we are able to support as many students as possible in a day.
Similarly, students may have a maximum of 3 sessions/week.
Students may make weekly appointments, but these type of appointments are limited to 1 weekly appointment/week. Students may make additional appointments that are not weekly, up to the 3/week limit. Weekly appointment policies, including cancellations, are the same as other appointment policies.
If students are late to an appointment, they may lose the session. Also, tardiness may be considered the same as a no show, a violation of the appointment policies.
The Writing Center staff has the right to refuse service to students who attend merely to satisfy a class requirement or to receive extra credit. We will gladly work with and provide documentation to writers so they can receive credit, but writers must make a real effort to work with staff to develop their writing. If instructors require Writing Center appointments, please plan ahead and make appointments in a timely fashion (please don’t wait until the last minute, and then be unhappy if all appointments are booked).
Unless the writing being worked on is a group project, only one person can be present per session. That is, even if you and your friend are working on the same assignment, you cannot share a session, since your papers and needs are different.
For collaborative, group projects, the Writing Center must work with the writers of the piece. In other words, if different people wrote different sections, they should each make appointments for their sections, or they should come in together. We will NOT work on any writing if the author is not present.
For all sessions, students should treat the Writing Center staff person with respect. If a student's behavior is causing a staff person to feel uncomfortable, and the student does not change any inappropriate behavior despite being informed of it, the student may be asked to leave the Writing Center. In addition, future session availability may be restricted.
If you have any questions about these policies, please contact Kim Pennesi, Writing Center Director, at 724-830-4795 or pennesi@setonhill.edu.