JANUARY 18, 2024

Welcome to OWLS--The Office for Writing & Learning Services

We offer both in-person and online tutoring. During regular business hours on weekdays, tutoring is offered in-person in the OWLS center. After 5 pm and on Sundays, tutoring is online-only. 

Graduate students seeking writing tutoring should log in and select Graduate Writing Tutoring from the pull-down menu. All graduate writing tutoring is asynchronous online only. 

If you are a first-time user and need to register for an account, click the link to the left.

To schedule an appointment, click on the scheduling grid with your choice of tutor, date, and time. Fill in the form that pops up when you click on the box. For evening tutoring, you will only be able to see a tutor online. 

Online consultations are done in real time, meaning you will join the appointment at the scheduled time and work with the consultant through live chat.

To join an Online Appointment 

• A few minutes before your appointment, log in to this appointment system.
• Find your appointment and click on it to open the appointment form.
• Scroll to “Meet Tutor Online?” and click “Start or Join Online Consultation.” This will open the consultation screen.
• The consultation screen has a live chat area on the right side, a document collaboration space or “whiteboard” area in the middle and a toolbar at the top. There are instructions in the whiteboard space for how to use each section.
• To upload a file, click the “two arrows” button in the upper right hand corner of the screen above the chat box. (To upload a paper, you can either copy and paste your paper directly into the whiteboard space or upload a file. Either method may impact the formatting of your document as WCONLINE converts the document to simple text.) A pop up message will appear giving you the option to import or export a file. To import a file, click “Choose File” and use the file navigator to select and open the file you want to upload.
• Once the file is selected, click “Import Now.” When another box pops up asking you to confirm the import, click “OK,” and your file will populate the whiteboard space.
• You will chat with you tutor using the chat bar in the bottom right corner. Your typing will be color coded in the chat box. You and the tutor can also type directly into the document on the whiteboard space, making comments and revising as you go. Your comments will also be color coded. After your appointment is complete, you can return to your document in WCONLINE at any time to refer to the comments or use the import/export function to download a copy.
• Close the window to exit the session.

If you have issues with the online appointment system, try closing and restarting or changing your browser.