Frequently Asked Questions

We are located on the 11^th floor of the Edison building at the corner of 9^th and Sansom streets. Once on the 11^th floor, follow the hallway around to the right and look for the waiting area near offices 1122 and 1123. Have a seat, make yourself comfortable, and your tutor will come out to greet you at your appointment time. 

It is not — however, there is a writing center in Scott Library on the 3^rd floor, run by the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL). While our staff at the Student Writing Center focuses on helping students with writing for coursework, the CTL Writing Center serves both faculty and students and provides guidance for writers interested in publication. For more information, click here.

Our writing tutors are a diverse and highly trained team of both full- and part-time professional writing staff and part-time peer tutors. All of our writing tutors have strong backgrounds in writing and experience with tutoring in a higher education setting. 

Yes, if you want to meet with a tutor during the hours of 9 am - 5 pm, Monday-Friday, you'll need to schedule an appointment here. If you're trying to book a next-day appointment, you'll have up until midnight to schedule it; currently, we don't offer day-of appointments.

Additionally, if you need a 60-minute appointment, you'll need to schedule online--we offer drop-in evening hours that don't require an appointment, but those sessions are only up to 30-minutes long.

No, if you want to drop in on Tuesdays during the hours of 4 pm - 7 pm at the Scott Memorial Library, room 200a. These sessions are first-come, first served, so you might have to wait to meet with a tutor; additionally, while we strive to serve all students who drop in, we cannot guarantee that we'll be able to meet with everyone who stops by.

Drop-in evening hours are a great option if you have a tight schedule.

Please read more about drop-in hours to determine which kind of writing session is best for you.

Unfortunately, due to high demand for our services, we do not offer same-day appointments. We strongly encourage student writers to be proactive and schedule time for tutoring appointments well in advance of assignment due dates. Our online booking system allows students to schedule appointments up to 60 days in advance; and it remains open for booking appointments until 11:59pm for next-day appointments.

While we don't have same-day appointments, we do have evening drop-in hours at the Scott Memorial Library. Read more here.

Scheduled appointments are set at 30 minutes or 60 minutes. Generally speaking, the length of your assignment will serve as a good rule of thumb regarding how much time you may need to spend with a tutor. Our office uses the following guidelines:

• 1-3 pages: 30 minutes
• 4-10 pages: 60 minutes

Please call our office at 215-955-1402 or email Danielle.Litwin-Moskowitz if your paper is longer than 10 pages so that the Student Writing Center can best accommodate your needs.

Drop-in appointments are 30 minutes or less. Read more here.

Yes! Please call our office at 215-955-1402 or email Danielle Litwin-Moskowitz to describe your project and your needs. We will discuss the number of appointments needed and appropriate intervals between appointments. We will also assign an appropriate tutor to work with you through all relevant appointments.

Please plan to focus on a specific part of the paper in each one-hour appointment. 

While we strongly encourage students to attend in-person appointments if at all possible, we offer remote appointments for Abington students, distance learners, and students who are unable to visit our offices in-person. Please email Danielle.Litwin-Moskowitz@Jefferson.edu if you are in need of a remote appointment. 

• At the beginning of the session, you and your writing tutor will create an agenda for your time together that will help keep the session focused on your specific concerns.
• While the tutor reads your draft, they will encourage you to actively read the draft again as well and will often suggest you work on a reverse outline: an exercise designed to help you clearly see the organization and development of your paper.
• Please understand that you will not leave your appointment with a finished draft, but rather with clear next steps for revising.

We can provide advice on grammar, syntax, or mechanics; however, we will not correct your paper but will instead provide you with the information and tools to do so yourself.

Our goal is to provide you with the tools, strategies, and resources you need to become a better writer. 

While we will provide feedback and resources and answer questions about the use of a designated reference and citation style, we do not guarantee that we will identify all errors.

It is ultimately your responsibility to ensure that your formatting, citations, and references are correct.

While we will often refer to paper guidelines when offering questions, suggestions or other feedback, we are unable to grade your paper or to assess the draft using the rubric.

Please note that we are informed readers and will provide feedback on, among other things, overallstructure and organization, clarity, development, and support.

We can discuss strategies to help you understand an assignment's description, but but we are not trained in your field and are unable to answer specific content questions--please refer to your professor or check appropriate source materials.

• You will receive a confirmation email for your appointment from Appointment Plus. Please review the appointment time, location, and writing tutor's name.
• Carefully review your draft and identify 1-3 specific questions or areas of focus for the session.
• Bring two copies of the draft to the appointment, along with a copy of the assignment description and rubric. 

Typically, our schedule does not allow for advance reading. But, our practices are designed to use the time of the appointment for active and efficient review. 

Though, if you do have a draft of your paper ready to share in advance of your appointment, you can send it to your tutor and if the tutor has time, they'll review it.

Please still be sure to bring two printed copies of the draft with you to your appointment, as well as the assignment description and rubric. 

As a professional courtesy, we do ask that all students notify the Student Writing Center if they are unable to make a stated appointment time (barring emergency circumstances). This can be done by calling 215-955-1402 or by emailing Danielle.Litwin-Moskowitz@jefferson.edu.

Please note that due to high demand, we cannot guarantee that a rescheduled appointment time will be available in the event of a cancellation.

Resumes, CVs, and cover letters are all handled by the Career Development Center, also located on the 11^th floor of the Edison building. Please click here to learn more and to schedule an appointment.

Please email Danielle Litwin-Moskowitz, Assistant Director of Academic Support Services, to discuss job opportunities within our office. We hire both professional and peer tutors.