Teague McElroy's Digital Portfolio

This is a training I did for the 2024 consultants and future ones as well.

Overall Tone

Casual yet helpful, just like in regular appointments. Remember! We aren’t editors!

Remember that you probably won’t be able to edit it once it’s done, so make sure you are being kind and clear in your appointment

• Someone else might read what you write! Are you okay with your writer’s parents reading your comments?

Lots of complements! A student might have chosen an asynchronous meeting because they don’t like the idea of someone looking over their paper before it’s finished.

Have you ever received feedback that wasn’t helpful? 

• Keep this in mind when you are writing your comments

Keep comments short, yet specific and don’t include slang or jargon the student might not understand 

• Remember that you won’t have the student’s body language to know if they’re understanding you or not!
• Keeping the comments short will save you time, and will make it easier for your writer to follow what you’re saying
• Asking questions, much like in an in-person appointment, will engage the student and encourage them to think about the writing in the way you would like them to

Grammar.

One of the biggest issues that I have with async appointments is that I want to correct the grammar throughout the whole piece, but this goes against having a “writer becoming a better writer” mindset that the WCC employs

• If you’re just correcting grammar the whole time, you’re not teaching them any skills or developing their writing, you are simply pointing out mistakes in their writing

If you spend too much time on grammar, you won’t have time to focus on things that could develop their writing skills

Readability is the important thing! Can you understand what the writer is trying to say?

• I like to correct the first two times someone makes a specific grammar mistake, then ignore the other times they make it (“It looks like you’re missing an oxford comma here.” “Here, you’ve also forgotten an oxford comma.”)
• Other consultants from the past have limited it by one or two corrections per page as well! If that makes more sense to you, do that! As long as the focus is on how you can make them a better writer and not the grammatical choices they make, you’ll be good

Format

Introduction is the style of a letter

• Needs to include a greeting to the writer, an explanation of what the letter is, a mention of the comments in the following paper, sections that address the concerns the student asks about, a “thank you” or two, your school email address (in case they have questions about anything you put in their async), and your name.
• Could include an offer to come back to the WCC, a complement, your availability as a consultant, or a summary of the comments you made in the paper.
• Never include any other identifying information besides your school email, anything regarding grades or saying “good” or “bad”, or confusing/indirect language.

(Besides grammar) I like to have headings for each concern they mention, then specifically address each concern. This can be bullet points or anything to get across the feedback you’re giving the writer

• I try to include at least three sentences in each section, but no more than seven (unless it is something like citation or requires a long-winded example)

Following that are comments in their paper

• Remember the tone you’re aiming for! Keep comments short, yet specific! 
• There might be a really weird sentence that is indecipherable at first glance. In these situations, it may be helpful to ask another consultant about it or to write out and diagram the sentence out. (Don’t get hung up on diagramming it correctly, just focus on making it make sense).

Letters and Word, Google Docs, and PDFs

If on Word or Google Docs:

• Make a copy of their document and rename it to “Lastname.annotated”**
• Insert your letter at the beginning of the file. Make sure to change your font to be a non-alarming font, such as Arial, Calibri, or even Comic Sans
• Make comments using the comment feature and minor grammatical suggestions using the reviewing/suggesting feature

**Note: The file name does not necessarily have to be exactly like this, but renaming the file to something completely different will differentiate it from the original file to avoid confusing files!

If you want a PDF (from Word or Google Docs):

• Word: “File” → “Save As” → “Other locations” → “Browse” → change the file name to “Lastname.annotated.pdf” → change the file type to PDF → “Save”
• Google Docs: “File” → “Download” → “PDF Document (.pdf)” → change the file name to “Lastname.annotated.pdf”

If on a PDF:

• Download the file and rename it to “Lastname.annotated”
• Use a PDF editor with drawing and text capabilities (I use Internet Explorer’s PDF editor built into the PDF software, which is available on school computers)
  • Make sure to change your font to be a non-alarming font, such as Arial, Calibri, or even Comic Sans
• Inserting your introduction letter
  • Way #1 (lots of empty space in document, possibly a cover page): Find space on the document where you would like to put the letter (closer to the beginning, the better) and paste it into a text box
  • Way #2 (no empty space in document): See if you can copy and paste the writer’s text into a Word doc or Google Doc. If you can, in the new document include a page break to keep the letter on one page, much like I did in the sample. Keep the page blank and use the PDF editor to make your letter, or finish this with the Word/Google Docs section.
    • If you can’t save the text, use the letter in the Client Report Form or email it to them separately (with Dr. Gale CC’d)
• Make comments using the text and drawing features (much like in the sample)

The Boring Stuff  (aka how to do an asynchronous appointment)

For starters, reserve half your appointment time for reading the paper, 10 minutes for the Client Report Form, and the remainder for writing your letter. If you have a perfect hour for the appointment, you would spend 30 minutes reading, 20 minutes writing your letter, and 10 minutes finishing your Client Report Form

• Go to the appointment info. Read through what the student has concerns about. Open the Client Report Form and fill in the information they put in the appointment form
• (Refer back to “Letters and Word, Google Docs, and PDFs”) Download the file and name it “Lastname.annotated”. If they have sent you a Google Docs link, make a copy of the paper and rename it.
• Create your letter/copy your template into the document. Make sure everything that the student asked about (clarity/conciseness, introduction/thesis, etc. but not grammar) is acknowledged somewhere in the letter.
• Read the writing! As stated before, this step should take half the time you have in the appointment (not counting the last ten minutes reserved for the Client Report Form). You can always reread!
  • If your writer mentions a specific section, start on those sections first!
  • Make comments as you read it the first time. All comments should be nice, but after reading through again, you can always change the wording
  • Read again, this time try to leave a lot of compliments on the piece. Once again, your writer might be uncomfortable with you looking at their writing
• After you have left your comments, return to the letter and answer each of the concerns they have listed. You might have to skim through the paper for examples and areas that could be improved
• At the :50 mark or sooner, do the client report form! Unless you had to do Way #2 of inserting your introduction letter (putting it directly into the client report form), you should have a separate block of text in your Client Report Form that is unique to the appointment
  • Try to keep around 10 minutes for the report form! Losing track of time is completely fine, but 10 minutes should be enough to complete the form

“What do I do if…”

…I’m running out of time?

• You should only be looking at 5-10 pages (double-spaced), so if there’s more, just stop at page 10 or wherever you are halfway through the timeframe of the appointment.
• That being said, it happens sometimes! If you’re short on time, stop reading immediately and focus on your letter. If you aren’t sure about a specific concern they mention, give general suggestions that might work based on what you have read.

…the writer doesn’t send me a file?

• This will happen a lot, which is why it is important to look at your appointments before your shift! The sooner you send them an email, the easier it will be to do the appointment!
• Send them an email saying something along the lines of:
  • “For your appointment today, I need a file of your paper you would like me to look over. Please share the document with me and email it here. If you do not send me this file by 1:30PM today, I’ll have to mark the appointment as a no-show.”
  • If the student does not respond, mark the appointment as a no-show at the :30 mark.
  • If the student sends you the paper, but it is not shared with you (or you simply can’t open the document), request access to the file, wait around ten minutes, then send another email asking for access. If you don’t get access by the :30 mark, also mark as a no-show.

…the student writes an emotional piece that I’m not comfortable with working on?

• First, look around at who else is working in the WCC. If Dr. Gale is in the office, ask her if she can look over the paper for you. If not, depending on the content of the work, ask another consultant to look over it. 
• If all else fails, send Teague or Dr. Gale a message and we can move the appointment to a different time & consultant and contact the student for you.

…the writer writes the best paper I’ve ever read?

• Complements! Emphasize the areas of the paper that you do like
  • At the same time, avoid simply giving the writer a “thumbs up” or praise with no constructive help. Many writers get frustrated when they don’t get proper feedback, even when the content seems perfect
• Look at the structure of the paper. Is there a better way of organizing?
• Think mostly about the professor reading the paper. Without telling the student, what grade would you give them? Are there any areas of improvement?
• If you can’t find anything, give general suggestions for the areas they have asked about. I like to word it like I did in the sample, but there are other ways to do it too. Think of it as leaving it up to the writer to apply your suggestions, whether or not you think they specifically apply (but make sure this doesn’t show)

…the writer writes the worst paper I’ve read and there’s too much for 50 minutes?

• Focus on the writer’s needs that they outlined.
  • In an in-person consultation, we focus on what the writer wants to work on and what we have time to work on, and the same applies to async appointments.
• Avoid being overly critical, and don’t forget compliments (even though it’s stinky)
  • Complement based on topic or places where the writing isn’t (as) difficult to work with
• DO NOT FOCUS ON GRAMMAR.
  • As stated previously, it can be difficult to ignore grammar, but it’s necessary. If it is truly a “bad” paper, there will be other issues besides grammar (such as clarity, genre, or formatting)
• If it is completely impossible to work on the writer’s paper (which has never happened here as far as I know), do what you can and then reach out to Dr. Gale and discuss if the student should be allowed to make async appointments in the future

…the writer  leaves an enormous paragraph about what help they need?

• First of all, the writer might be worried about the paper and it might not need every concern listed to be looked at. In case this is what’s happening, read the paper before worrying about all of the worries. You can always give general feedback to concerns you don’t really need to address.
• If the paper does need help on each concern, try to give brief (but still constructive!) advice on what they ask about, and encourage them to make an in-person appointment if they have this many concerns
  • The big thing here is to stick to half the time being devoted to the paper, ten minutes on the Client Report Form, and whatever is left on the letter. If you stick to this guideline, the writer might not get all of the information they’re asking for, but at least they get the same allotted time that everyone else gets. If they need more help, they need another appointment.

…the writer only mentions grammar (or just one concern, doesn’t leave any information about what they want you to look over, etc.)?

• If there are any other issues that you believe should be addressed, include them in the letter and say something like “You didn’t specifically ask about this, but I wanted to mention a few things…”
• You can also generalize your suggestions in the letter instead of outlining each section
• If all else fails, just keep the letter as an introduction into the paper’s comments.