Policies
Our appointment policies help us to see as many writers as possible. They help us to be fair and to keep our traffic running smoothly. Though our appointments are scheduled on the hour, expect the standard consultation to last approximately 45 minutes. This gives our consultants the ability to complete their client notes and prepare for their next consultation.
The CEW is not an editing or proofreading service. This simply means that we will not go through your paper finding and correcting every error for you. You cannot drop off a paper to have it edited or proofread for you.
Like writing centers across the nation, our mission and training are to provide one-to-one support for your development as a writer. That includes every stage of the writing process. If editing or the final proofing stage is where you are in the writing process and is giving you problems, we will gladly help you improve in this area. We recommend that you finish the development and organization of your draft before polishing sentences, so be sure to allow time in your writing process for both a revision stage and an editing/proofreading stage. Whatever you choose to work on with us, you will be actively involved in the process because you are the writer!
For appointments in 17 Norton, if you are more than 10 minutes late and we have a walk-in writer waiting, then we may give that writer your appointment and you will have to reschedule. If there is no one waiting for the appointment, we welcome you to have your appointment, but the appointment will still end at 45 minutes after the hour, so your appointment may be shortened.
In the Zoom environment, your consultant has been asked to wait 15 minutes before marking your appointment as a "no show".
Frequent "no-show" appointments may result in limitations being placed upon your use of CEW services.
Each writer may schedule up to three appointments per week during regular academic semesters. (During Winter and Summer sessions, because of reduced staffing and hours, the limit is two appointments per week.) These limits are imposed in order to make our services widely available to the UB Community. If you have a special circumstance and need an additional appointment, discuss with your consultant or email writing@buffalo.edu. We do make exceptions sometimes!
Because there are many writers vying for available appointment times, excessive last minute cancelling of appointments can create significant waste in our resources. Please do not get in the habit of scheduling appointments as placeholders and canceling at the last minute. We monitor excessive last minute cancellations. Thank you for helping us see as many writers as we can! (Email writing@buffalo.edu)
If you are unable to attend your appointment, please cancel as soon as possible in Navigate so that another writer may take the session. If you do not, your appointment will be marked as a no-show. Emailing writing@buffalo.edu is not a good way to cancel an appointment because we cannot guarantee it will be seen in time. However, feel free to do so as a courtesy. In these times of reduced staffing and budgets, missed appointments are our most costly issue.
On occasion, your appointment may need to be moved from one consultant to another. (Such as if a consultant has called out due to illness). In every case, we arrange appointments with the best interests of our writers in mind. We try not to move students who have ongoing meetings with a specific consultant. If our moving an appointment creates a hardship for you, please just bring it to our receptionist's attention. As always we thank you for your patience and flexibility. (In the remote environment, you can email writing@buffalo.edu.)
Please discuss any special circumstances with a CEW administrator. Our intent is to see as many UB writers as we can and to ensure quality consultations.