Before Your First Visit + FAQ
Welcome to the Writing Center!
Northeastern community members bring in a range of materials: essays, reports, cover letters, resumes, discussion board posts, manuscripts, creative writing projects, application materials, proposals, case studies, dissertation chapters, and more.
It’s important to understand that our consultants (undergraduate and graduate students from a range of disciplinary backgrounds) may not have direct expertise in your field.
However, we believe that writing is a social process where a major goal of written communication is to connect to your reader. Even though you may be working with someone without direct knowledge of your topic, you may find that talking through ideas with an attentive, questioning tutor can help you clarify your written work.
First Step
The first step is to register for an account using our scheduling system, WCOnline:
- Visit neu.mywconline.com. Click on “Register for an account”:
- Use a valid Northeastern email address (@husky.neu.edu; @northeastern.edu; @alumni.neu.edu) and fill out the registration form. This system is not linked to NU account, so you will need to establish a new password that you can use with your WCOnline account.
- Check your Northeastern email for a link to confirm your account. If you cannot find a confirmation email within 15 minutes, email us at WritingCenter@northeastern.edu with the name and email address you used for registration.
- You’re all set! Log in and check out our schedule.
Frequently Asked Questions
Bring a paper or digital copy of your writing. Don’t forget to bring along instructions, grading requirements, or examples that will help your consultant understand the context and expectations. It helps if you have these extra items pulled up and ready before your session.
Right before your session, take a few minutes to think about any specific questions or priorities you have for the session, and be realistic about the 45-minute time frame (or less if it is a walk-in appointment).
We have paper, pens, highlighters, and writing handbooks available at the Writing Center. We do not have a printer.
Our consultants can definitely help with editing and proofreading skills, as well as word choices, style, and grammatical concepts.
Typically, you will take an active role in the process, even if you’re looking for grammar help.
In other words, don’t expect the consultant to go through and mark/fix everything for you while you wait. Instead, you might take turns reading the paper aloud and stopping to address part of a sentence; or your consultant might highlight a pattern and you’ll talk about that together.
A 45-minute appointment can go by quickly! For a lengthy writing project, you might need to plan on making multiple appointments.
No, the Writing Center does not offer drop-off editing services. All of our appointments are “synchronous,” meaning you’ll meet with a consultant to work on your writing side-by-side, at the same time.
This is true of online appointments, too.
WCO Scheduling Questions
Brand new users: registration is a two-step process, so check your email account for an automated email with a confirmation link. If you can’t find the email (even in your spam folder), email us at neuwritingcenter@gmail.com.
Returning users: you may be locked out due to previous no-shows. Contact us at neuwritingcenter@gmail.com to check-in on your account status and to make a request to enable your account.
- Join the Waiting List to receive a notification if a space becomes available.
- Check the schedule the morning-of to see if there are any spaces due to cancellations.
- Visit our walk-in location in Snell Library 136.
- Show up at Holmes Hall 412 in case there has been a no-show. However, please understand that tutors who look “available” may be working with an online client or unavailable due to breaks or shifts.
- Make use of other campus resources that might be able to help.
We strongly encourage you to only make an appointment if you can be there at the start-time. You can use our walk-in system if you need flexibility.
If this situation is unavoidable, here are a few things to keep in mind:
- add a note about your late arrival to your appointment form;
- email us the day before to remind us of your late arrival;
- understand that staff rotate frequently through the Writing Center, so it’s possible that your appointment might still be marked as a “no-show.”
- your appointment will finish as scheduled (e.g. at 1:45 pm, even if you showed up at 1:20pm).
Please do not join online appointments while you are in class. This can be disruptive to your class, disruptive to your Writing Center session, and uncomfortable for your tutor. Your tutor may end an online session if you are unresponsive for long periods of time.