UMass Boston

You must make all appointments under your name and using your UMB email address. You may only use one email address. If you make more than one account, use someone else’s account, or let someone else use your account, you may be blocked from our services for the rest of the semester. We expect writers and consultants to interact respectfully in the Writing Center and to follow all our policies and guidelines.

Writers are allowed to make two 45-minute appointments per week and one appointment per day. This ensures that we can serve as many writers as possible, including those who may want to use our drop-in services.

Our Writing Center is set up to provide support at the moment of need, for this reason, writers can make appointments up to 14 days in advance. We typically reserve recurring appointments for writers with disabilities or due to extenuating circumstances. If you have questions setting up a recurring appointment, send us an email at writingcenter@umb.edu.

if you miss three appointments (no-shows) in a semester, you won’t be able to make appointments via WCOnline for the remainder of that semester. If your account has been deactivated and you would still like to make appointments, contact us at writingcenter@umb.edu. Once we reinstate your account, we ask you to be extra mindful of not missing appointments.  

If you’re 10 or more minutes late to your appointment, we may mark that session as a “missed” appointment. This means that you’ll forfeit your appointment, and the session will count against your missed appointments/no-shows. Since our appointments are scheduled at the hour and last 45 minutes, if you're late to your appointment your session will still need to end at the originally scheduled time no matter how late you are. Consultants are not allowed to work past the 45-minute mark. 

If you’re over 10 minutes late, consultants can decide if there’s enough time to have a productive session. If they decide there’s not enough time, you’ll need to reschedule your appointment. 

If you cannot make it to a scheduled appointment, we ask that you cancel your appointment by logging into WCOnline and selecting your booked appointment. We allow writers to cancel appointments themselves up to 15 minutes before an appointment. After this time has passed, any appointment that is not cancelled, and for which a writer does not show up, will be counted as a no-show. For assistance with canceling appointments, email writingcenter@umb.edu.  

Our online consultations work just like in-person consultations. You’ll still work collaboratively with our consultants for 45 minutes. To access your online appointment, log into WCOnline, click on your booked appointment, and select “Start Online Consultation.” Make sure your audio and video are enabled.  

Online appointments are an extension of UMB’s instructional space. We expect writers and consultants to interact respectfully in the same way they would during an in-person visit. Please plan ahead and ensure you have a quiet space, a strong Internet connection, and a microphone and camera for audio and video functions.

Drop-ins are meant to provide support in the moment when a writer needs it. While we don't currently have a limit on the number of drop-in sessions writers can have, drop-ins are subject to consultants' availability. Drop-ins are typically around 20-30 minutes long, but length will vary depending on how many other writers might be waiting. If more than one writer visits during the drop-in period, the consultant will divide their time to work with as many writers as possible. Once you’ve worked with a consultant during a drop-in, you may need to give others a turn before working with a consultant again the same day. Consultants also need to take breaks and might not be able to work with you for a long period of time, even if there are no other writers waiting for drop-ins. If you want to guarantee that you'll be able to work with a consultant, schedule an appointment in advance.  

Our drop-in policy may be adjusted depending on the time of the semester and how many writers are waiting. Drop-ins are currently only offered in person at our main location. We have designated drop-in (listed in our hours and locations page). If you’re seeking a drop-in session outside of these dedicated hours, you may come to our locations when we’re open and ask if there are any consultants who can take a drop-in, though availability is not guaranteed. 

Please only bring writing that is your own to the writing center. We believe in collaborative, hands-on learning and we can’t work with writing that is not your own. If you bring writing that is not your own, you may be asked to leave the session and you may be blocked from our services for the rest of the semester. The only exception for this is collaborative and/or co-authored writing when at least one of the authors is at the session.

After you’ve met with a consultant, you’ll be emailed a short survey that allows you to give us anonymous feedback and help us improve. You can also access that survey here. 

We want to protect everyone who visits our writing center. We strongly recommend you wear a face mask if you’re attending an in-person session or writing center event. If a consultant asks you to use a face mask, we appreciate you respecting that and wearing one correctly during your appointment. If you prefer or are sick, you can receive the same services via our online appointments.

If you’re sick, please don’t come into the writing center. If you have an in-person appointment, please contact us if you feel well enough to be productive in a session, and we can change your session to an online appointment. For in-person appointments, bring your own device or two copies of your text to minimize contact. You may also create a sharable document (Google Docs, OneDrive, etc.) so that you can work on one device and your consultant can work on another. We want to protect all our staff and our writers. If a consultant asks you to wear a mask, please wear one so that we can keep everyone healthy. Masks are available in the Writing Center. If you are sick and prefer to not wear a mask, please use our online services.

Durning non-peak times of the semester and while we have open appointments, we can provide recent graduates with up to three appointments. A recent alum is no more than two years post-graduation and still has access to their UMB email address. Alumni must follow all Writing Center guidelines and norms and can only have one appointment per day and two per week. If you’re a recent graduate and want to schedule an appointment, email the Writing Center (writingcenter@umb.edu) and we’ll provide more information. During peak times, the Writing Center reserves the right to cancel appointments created by alumni to ensure priority is given to current students.  

The Writing Center does not provide information to instructors about writers’ use of the Writing Center or about the content of  their appointments. The only time we may provide information is if a writer explicitly request us to do so. For example, if you wish to share some information with an instructor, your consultant can provide you with a copy of your post-session form that you are free to share with your instructor. In some cases, you can ask the Writing Center administrative team to reach out to your instructor.

Please don’t require visits to the Writing Center. When instructors require their classes to attend the Writing Center (whether as part of a grade or for extra credit) we risk not being able to serve writers who are choosing to seek our support. In addition, we prefer that writers visit us because they want to and recognize the Writing Center as a safe space where they can ask questions and work on improving their writing.

This doesn't mean faculty can't invite writers to visit the Writing Center. Check out our suggestions on how to talk to writers about the writing center, our syllabus statement, and other services for faculty on our services for faculty page.

If a writer asks us to document that they attended a session, with their permission, we may copy faculty on the post-session form or they can forward faculty our post-session email. However, we want to protect writers’ privacy and will not provide additional information about who uses our services or what happens in a session without the writer's explicit permission.

Because we want to provide a safe space for our writers and to encourage self-efficacy, we will not monitor nor provide information about who uses our services. Our consultants will not directly communicate with instructors, and we won’t provide any information about our sessions with any particular writer unless we have explicit permission to do so from a writer for very particular reasons. If you have any questions, please reach out to us via email (writingcenter@umb.edu) and we’ll assist you.

If you’d like a writing center staff member to visit your class to share information about our services, please fill out the informational class visit form found on our website homepage.