Writing Assistance Policies

Please note that by making a Writing Assistance appointment, you agree to adhere to the following policies:

  • In order to receive Writing Assistance from the ERC, you must be a student, alumni, faculty or staff member of Boston University.
    • BU Alumni, if you’d like to make an appointment with one of our Writing Fellows, please email the following information to Mike Lantvet at mlantvet@bu.edu: First and Last name, BU ID number, most frequently checked email address, most frequently used phone number.
  • You will arrive on time for your appointment
    • One student may sign up for an appointment and only that student’s work may be discussed. Group appointment requests should be addressed to Gin Schaffer, gschaff@bu.edu
    • Students are permitted one appointment per day and a maximum of three appointments in a 10 day period (appointments can be scheduled up to ten days in advance)
    • If you need to cancel an appointment, you must e-mail wfellows@bu.edu at least 24 hours prior to the scheduled start of your appointment
    • Repeated cancellations and missed appointments will jeopardize your ability to schedule an appointment with the Writing Assistance at the ERC
  • Writing Fellows DO NOT solely provide proofreading or editing services
    • The appointment will focus more on clarity, organization and argument rather than correcting grammar, punctuation or typos
  • All patrons are expected to adhere to the BU Academic Code of Conduct
    • Any work submitted by a patron must be their own
    • Any deviation from this may be construed as academic misconduct
    • If a Writing Fellow suspects a BU Academic Code of Conduct violation (i.e. a student arrives to an appointment with another student’s work, or a take-home exam), the Writing Fellow reserves the right to terminate the appointment

Cancellation/Late/Missed Appointment Policies:

  • Students who do not cancel their appointments with at least 24 hours notice are marked Missed.
  • Students who do not show up within 15 minutes of the scheduled start time of the appointment are marked Missed.
  • Students who do not come to their scheduled appointment are marked Missed.
  • A student with TWO Missed appointments on record will not be able to make any additional appointments, and will be removed from any future Writing Assistance appointments until s/he has discussed their TutorTrac account with an ERC staff member.