Online Writing Center

Table of Contents
Synchronous Consultations .......................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Viewing Your Schedule and Appointments .................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Accessing Blackboard Collaborate ...................................................................................................... 3
Conducting the Session......................................................................................................................... 3
Asynchronous Consultations ......................................................................................................... 3
Difference Between Online vs. Face-to-Face Consultations ............................................................ 4
Email System .......................................................................................................................................... 4
Elements of Online Consultations ....................................................................................................... 4
Track Changes ........................................................................................................................................ 5
Information to Keep in Mind When Consulting Clients Asynchronously.................................... 6
How to Respond to Clients .................................................................................................................. 7

In addition to offering services in-person, The Writing Center at Missouri State

conducts online consultations in two different ways: synchronously and
asynchronously. All synchronous consultations take place through Blackboard
Collaborate and asynchronous consultations are conducted through the Writing
Center’s email queue. These services are offered to students who are taking online
courses or high school dual credit courses.

Synchronous Consultations
In an online learning environment, the synchronous consultation is closely related to a
normal face-to-face consultation in the sense that both the writer and consultant can
converse in real time over a video call. All clients who choose to schedule a
synchronous consultation will do so through Tutortrac. All consultations will take place
in Blackboard Collaborate.

Viewing Your Schedule and Appointments

Consultants will receive email notifications (through their personal Outlook accounts)
for each scheduled session. Some notifications can appear up to 18 hours before the
session actually takes place. Additionally, clients can schedule appointments up to four
days in advance. With that being said, it is crucial that each consultant reviews their

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schedule regularly since it can change daily. The steps below outline the process of
accessing schedules and appointment information.

1. Personal schedules are located on Tutortrac. To access Tutortrac, consultants will

log in to their MyMissouriState accounts and click the “Campus Life” ribbon as
shown on the home page.

2. Under the “Bear CLAW” section, click “TutorTrac” and select the “Switch to
Consultant Profile” option.

3. The Consultant and Student profiles are nearly identical, but the Consultant
profile allows for employees to view scheduled consultations. Click on the
“Schedule” option.

4. Once Consultants access their schedule, they will be able to see who is requesting
the session, why they are requesting the session, and what time the session will
take place. Available slots will show in green. Booked appointments will appear
white. Time that is temporarily blocked/requested off will appear pink.

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Accessing Blackboard Collaborate
Students will have a link to access their scheduled session through their Tutortrac
reservation. On the other hand, each consultant will have a link for their own personal
Blackboard Collaborate room. Consultants will find this link in an Excel Spreadsheet
that is given to them by the Writing Center Director. The virtual room is always open,
meaning that students can access the session whenever they want. Make sure to stick to
your schedule. (Note: No cancellations can be made by the student less than 24 hours in
advance.)

Conducting the Session

While the virtual session itself may have some physical limitations, conduct the session
as you normally would in person. Follow the same guidelines for in-person
consultations and take the ones listed below into consideration as you start the session:
▪ Ask the student questions about their assignment/class and establish rapport.
Not only does this allow for the student to become more relaxed with their
assigned tutor throughout the session, but it also creates a comfortable
environment for both parties overall.
▪ Ask the client to take notes. One of the downsides of virtual consultations
(through Blackboard Collaborate specifically) is that documents can only be
displayed as PDFs. If a student needs assistance in converting their document(s) to
PDFs, consultants can help them with that during their consultation.
Additionally, any changes made to the PDF will not be saved. Thus, it is
important to ask the client to take notes during a virtual session.

Asynchronous Consultations
Clients who use asynchronous tutoring will submit their papers electronically to the
Writing Center’s email queue (WritingCenter@MissouriState.edu). After a paper is
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submitted, writing consultants can make comments and suggestions using the
Microsoft Word comment and track changes features. Then, the writing consultant
returns the paper to the student with the comments and changes along with a personal
letter summarizing the major suggestions for revision. Because of the nature of this type
of tutoring, many of the personal connections writing consultants make with writers in
face-to-face sessions are lost, so the consultants who do this type of tutoring must make
a strong effort to personalize their responses to each student and give constructive
criticism while keeping a kind, professional tone.

Difference Between Online vs. Face-to-Face Consultations

Many of the tutoring techniques writing consultants use in live sessions still apply to
online tutoring; however, when tutoring online, writing consultants must convey their
ideas in writing, which can pose some challenges such as making sure not to come
across too harshly, not to overwhelm to the writer with Keeping a file of pre-formed
comments and talking to other writing consultants can also make the online tutoring
process more efficient.

Email System
The Writing Center uses an email queue (WritingCenter@MissouriState.edu) to accept
submissions from clients. Each writing consultant will be allowed access to the Writing
Center’s email through their Missouri State Outlook account once they have completed
the training process.

Once the consultant has access to the email queue, they will be able to claim
submissions as they come in. To do so, consultants will click on a submission from the
queue’s inbox and drag it to their assigned folder (which displays their first name). This
ensures that they are the only consultant working on that specific submission and it
allows for organization for each consultant’s work. Once the consultant has successfully
claimed a submission, they can start the asynchronous consulting process for that client.

Elements of Online Consultations

Each consultant will have a slightly different approach to their process of tutoring, but
every online tutoring session should contain three elements: the track changes marks,
the comments, and a personal letter to the writer. The personal letter to the writer
should be the first thing the writer sees when they receive their paper back from the
Writing Center. This letter allows the consultant to summarize two or three of the major
suggestions for revision and personally connect with the writer. There is no set format
for writing this letter, but it is always good to address the writer by name and start the
letter with something the writer has done well (this can include content, citations, or
anything else that stands out). If the writer has asked for a specific issue be looked at,
then the consultant should mention that issue in the letter.

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Track Changes
Track Changes make up a large portion of the asynchronous consulting process and are
used to leave comments and suggestions for writers and their work. The following list
outlines the various functions of Track Changes and the process of leaving comments
on client submissions.

Turning Track Changes on and Off (Word 2007)

1. Click the Review Tab
2. Choose the Track Changes button and select “Track Changes.” You will know
that it is active when the color around the image of the Track Changes button
turns orange instead of blue.

3. The Track Changes feature should now be active and the changes you make to
your document will now appear different than the rest of the document.
4. To turn the Track Changes feature off, follow this same process. You will know
when it is deactivated when the color around the image of the Track Changes
button returns to blue.

Changing Track Changes Settings

One thing to keep in mind is that, depending on your computer’s settings, the Track
Changes feature can appear in one of many different colors and styles such as
strikethrough, bold, underline, etc. In Word 2007, you can change how you view these
changes by going to the “Change Tracking Options” menu in the “Track Changes”
drop-down menu and choosing your desired settings. In Word 2003, go to the “Tools”
menu, select “Options,” click on the “Track Changes” tab, and then make your desired
changes.

Accepting and Rejecting Changes

None of the changes a consultant makes to a document are permanent; the writer
ultimately decides what revisions to make to his or her paper. To accept or reject the
changes, the writer simply needs to right click on each change and choose either
“Accept Change” or “Reject Change.” If the writer chooses “Accept Change,” Microsoft
Word will make the change, and the text formatting will become the same as the rest of
the document. If the writer chooses “Reject Change,” Microsoft Word will remove the
consultant’s suggested change and return it to what the writer originally wrote.

Inserting Comments (Word 2007)

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 1. Place the cursor where you want to insert a comment or highlight a section of text
that you want to make a comment about.
2. Click the Review Tab.
3. In the Review Tab, click the “New Comment” button.

4. You are now ready to add text to the comment bubble. To do this, simply, click
anywhere inside the bubble, and the cursor should appear inside of it. Once the
cursor appears, begin typing.

Deleting Comments
To delete a comment (in any version of Microsoft Word), simply right click on a
comment and select “Delete Comment.”

Microsoft Help
When in doubt, you can always use the help function in Microsoft Word or visit the
company’s website to search for answers to your questions.

Information to Keep in Mind When Consulting Clients Asynchronously

▪ Establish a friendly tone. This is very important in online tutoring; it lets the
writer know that he or she is not working with a machine that is devoid of
feeling and emotion, but with a person. The most important place to establish a
friendly tone is in the personal letter to the writer since it should be the first
thing the writer reads. A consultant can create a friendly tone by addressing the
writer by name, starting the letter by specifically telling that writer what he or
she has done well, and offering criticism in as kind of a way as possible.
▪ Online tutor is still tutoring. Writing consultants who tutor online should
remember that online tutoring is still tutoring, so they should still follow many
of the basics that they normally do in live sessions. For example, writing
consultants should address higher-order concerns first; it is better not to spend
time correcting grammar issues if there are larger, more global issues (such as
organization, clarity, poor research, etc.) at hand.
▪ Let the writer know what to expect. When writers send in papers, it is not
uncommon for them to ask the Writing Center to “edit,” “fix,” or “correct” their
papers. Most of the time, if writing consultants simply let writers know what
they have done in their tutoring process (such as highlighting areas where there
are problems instead of correcting them for the writer), those writers will better
understand what to expect in the future.
▪ Ask questions. Like face-to-face tutoring, asking questions is an essential part of
the online tutoring process, especially for helping writers address higher-order
concerns. Sometimes questions can come across differently online than they do
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 in person. Writing consultants should also be aware that too many questions can
overwhelm a writer, so they should not ask unnecessary or repetitive questions.
▪ Avoid editing. It is tempting to edit papers when doing online tutoring;
however, try to avoid this. The purpose of the Writing Center is to allow for clients to
become better writers, not for consultants to become better editors. Many times, writers
will have patterns to the grammatical or punctuation errors they make, so if you
can find the patterns, describe them, and offer strategies for proofreading and
correcting those errors, it will make it easier for those writers to learn to
proofread and correct these errors on their own in the future.
▪ Keep a file of pre-formed comments. Some consultants may find that they
repeat themselves often when responding to writers’ writing, especially when
explaining grammar issues. One way to save time is to keep an electronic file
with explanations for grammatical concepts so that you can copy and paste them
as necessary.
▪ Talk to other writing consultants. One other helpful strategy for online tutoring
is to ask other consultants questions. Whether you aren’t sure if you understand
something in a paper or if you are explaining your ideas well enough,
sometimes a second opinion can be helpful.

How to Respond to Clients

Because of the nature of online asynchronous tutoring, there must be a strong emphasis
on exactly what consultants write in response to students’ writing; consultants need to
have a keen awareness of their tone and clarity. The responses that consultants give are
the only way those writers will know their writing consultants. When constructing
these responses, be conscious of how you may come across to the person you are
tutoring. In face-to-face sessions, the writer can at least see your facial expressions and
body language that will help that person interpret what you say; however, in online
tutoring, the only way writers know you is through your words. This is why you must
choose your words carefully. There are many aspects to consider when responding to
student writing:
▪ Be clear, explicit, and explain your reasoning. Online tutoring requires writing
consultants to make concise, descriptive comments about students’ writing.
These writers are used to seeing marks such as “awk,” “frag,” or “RO” on their
papers, but that does not necessarily mean that they know what these comments
mean or how to fix them. The only way writers will better understand these
issues is for the consultant to clearly explain what those issues are and offer
strategies about how to address those issues.
▪ Avoid sarcasm. The writer may not catch the sarcasm, which could result in a
misinterpretation, and that misinterpretation could ultimately have negative
effects on that writer’s tutoring experience and/or learning.
▪ Make the writer aware of your tutoring process. An instance when this strategy
can be especially effective is when there is a recurring error in a paper. If there is
a recurring grammatical or punctuation error in a paper, and the consultant only

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 corrected the first instance of it as an example, then that consultant should
literally tell the writer in a comment, “There is a [insert
grammatical/punctuation mistake here] recurring throughout your paper. I’ve
marked the first error, and you can [insert proofreading strategy here]. I’ll let
you proofread for further instances of this.” This lets the writer know that he or
she needs to take responsibility for correcting the remaining errors and that the
consultant has not simply “fixed” the paper.
▪ Use the comment feature more than the track changes feature. There is no set
number of changes or comments that a writing consultant should make, but in
general, it is better for a consultant to use the comment feature to explain his or
her ideas than to simply make changes with the track changes feature.
▪ Be mindful about how many comments you make; you don’t want to
overwhelm the writer with too many comments. If you find yourself using the
comment feature excessively, narrow your comments down to the most
important issues for the writer to address first, and consider telling the writer to
submit his or her paper again after revising.
▪ Have a positive tone. Try to avoid saying, “Don’t make this mistake” when you
can easily rephrase your comment to something that has a more positive tone
such as “Try to avoid doing this; it will make your essay sound more
professional.”
▪ Always start and end the personal letter to the writer on a positive note.
Starting the letter with praise will let the writer know what he or she has done
right and ease him or her into the criticism you are going to offer. Ending the
letter on something good (such as “Good luck on your essay,” “Thank you for
sending your paper in to the Writing Center,” “I hope these comments help,” or
“If you have any other questions, feel free to send your paper in again”) serves as
another way to encourage writers and personalize their tutoring experience (see
the “Example Personal Letter to Writer” section on page 63 for a sample).

There are a few examples of personalized responses that can be used as additional
resources for consulting below.

Sarah,
I see no problem with the way you worded your transition for paragraph 6. By starting
with "Not only in the story, but in real life", you make a subtle connection between the book and
the actual situation concerning kites in Afghanistan. It may seem random to include a true
example of what you're describing in an essay about a book, but I feel that you did a fine job of
assimilating it into the text and making it work. By describing the banning of kites, you express
the sense of loss and defeat that the people of Afghanistan must have felt. Well done. Commented [A1]: Addressing writer’s specific questions.
The only other thing I will note is this: While your teacher may know exactly what you're This lets the writer know that her concerns are our priority.
referring to in a paper, other readers will not be able to make those connections, especially if
they haven't read the book. In the future, try going into a little more detail about who people are,
their relationships to each other, and why they act the way they do. It not only helps us writing
tutors as we're reading, but it also adds more clarity to your paper overall.

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 I love the connections you made about the rise and fall of the kite being comparable to
betrayal and salvation. It shows your insight into the topic and lets me know that you really
understand the material. Commented [A2]: This shows the writer you read the
I hope this has helped you. paper, and it was meaningful to you as a reader. This
Caitlin reinforces the idea of audience and reader for the writer.

Vicky,
As a sci-fi nerd, I thought this was a very fun topic! You had my attention from the very
beginning!
The major problem with your essay is a lack of focus. You need to take a stance one way
or another on how you feel about genetic engineering. As the paper stands currently, bounce
back and forth between saying science goes too far, and science has saved a lot of lives. Be a little
more clear on what you are trying to say. How do you really feel about scientific progress?
Also, be more specific to Shelley's Frankenstein. You bring up excellent issues, but you
never mention: 1) How the novel resolves these issues. 2) How the resolution of the issues in the
novel reflect what should be done today or how the resolution would never work today.
Something you might consider looking into would be the Futurist movement. Futurists
are people who believe our wildest scientific dreams should come true. They believe that science
should be taken to its absolute zenith in order for the world to be made a better place. A
prominent futurist is writer Warren Ellis. You might look him up and see what he has to say
about science.
In short, the best way to improve your thesis, your conclusion, and the length of your
paper is to take a strong stance on the issue of scientific expansion. You should draw the line
somewhere and find evidence to support what you have to say.
Overall, I really enjoyed this paper because it was so fresh and different from anything
else I have read. Keep up the good work and I'm sure you'll have a great paper after some
revision.
-Cody
Commented [A3]: Relating to the client on a personal
level. This makes the digital environment seem less cold and
reinforces that the writer is working with a real person, not a
computer.
Also, notice how often you see exclamation marks in these
letters.
Commented [A4]: This list is a nice breakdown for the
writer. It makes the suggestion manageable for the writer.
Commented [A5]: The use of the word “might” make this
a suggestion rather than a command. There is only a small
difference between this and saying, “You really should look
into the Futurist movement,” but it makes a huge difference
in how it comes across to the writer. Because he phrased it
this way, the writer knows that this revision is her decision.
Commented [A6]: Compliments and encouragement build
relationships with writers.

Works Cited
Gillespie, Paula, and Neal Lerner. The Longman Guide to Peer Tutoring. 2nd ed. New York:
Pearson, 2008. 161-165.