Service Policies

When attending an appointment in person or online:

a) Arrive (for in-person appointments) or log on (for online appointments) at least five minutes early.

b) You will be asked to provide your 10-digit ASU ID number to log in.

c) For in-person writing appointments, we encourage you to bring a printed or electronic copy of your draft. Research shows that writers can often identify areas for revision (e.g., transitions, paragraph order, grammar, and sentence structure) more efficiently when reading a printed draft.  

d) For online appointments, we encourage you to have any needed electronic file(s) open on your computers.

e) For both in-person and online appointments, we also encourage you to bring a printed or digital copy of your instructor’s assignment and/or rubric.

f) You are encouraged to prepare questions to review with the tutor during the session.

g) You may need to schedule additional appointments to review additional changes or longer projects.

When attending a tutoring session in person or online:

a) You can drop-in to a subject area tutoring center at an in-person location or online anytime during hours of operations.

b) You will be asked to provide your 10-digit ASU ID number/asurite to log in or to check in through our traccloud system. For in-person, have your Sun Card ready.

c) For subject area tutoring we encourage you to have the assignment you are working or content you have questions on available. You can show the tutor when in-person or share your screen online.

d) You are encouraged to prepare questions to review with the tutor ahead of time.

e) Be prepared to engage with the tutor. The tutor will not provide you answers but walk with you through the learning process.

f) For both in-person and online, we also encourage you to take notes.

g) You will need to raise your hand in our online queue system, regardless of being in-person or online, to get your questions answered. This may need to be done multiple times during a visit.

ASN uses Zoom to conduct all of its online writing tutoring appointments and drop-in subject area tutoring. Zoom is available to ASU students at no additional cost. To learn more about how to use Zoom, view our guide.

If faculty members require verification of your tutoring visit, you will be asked during your checkout process if you would like your faculty member to receive verification of the visit.  If you choose this option, an automated email with the date, time, and length of the appointment will be sent directly to your faculty member.

You can check your tutoring hours throughout the semester to share with faculty: How to check your tutoring hours.

You may receive assistance for a variety of writing projects related to your degree or field. However, the Subject Area Tutoring Center, Writing Center and Graduate Academic Support Center cannot help you with the following types of writing projects:

• Any coursework that is part of an in-class or take-home exam or quiz
• Work that is not your own
• Coursework that is from a non-ASU institution

Exceptions may be granted if the center supervisor receives written permission from the course's instructor of record for a course-related exam (permission from a TA is not adequate) or from a faculty advisor or official departmental representative for a degree-related exam. The center supervisor must receive this written permission via email from the appropriate individual before the writing appointment can occur.

Academic Support Network has rigorous practices in place to recruit, select, hire, train and evaluate its student staff, including desk aides, subject area tutors, writing tutors, graduate writing tutors, and SI leaders. Our high-quality subject area tutors, writing tutors and SI leaders are required to be in good academic standing with the university and to have a B- or better in the courses that they tutor. They must also complete our tutor training program which is certified by the College Reading and Learning Association (CRLA). All student staff applicants are required to obtain and submit an appropriate recommendation to be eligible to work for ASN. 

All ASN student staff must complete a minimum of 10 hours of training prior to the start of each academic year.

• Subject area tutors are trained to reinforce concepts introduced by course instructors and to help students implement learning and study strategies. In keeping with this approach, tutors are not trained to introduce new material to students during tutoring sessions.
• Writing tutors and graduate writing tutors are trained to work with students at any stage of the writing process and to engage students in conversations about their writing strengths and areas in need of further revision.
• SI leaders are trained to develop and facilitate cooperative learning activities to discuss course concepts during weekly group reviews.
• Desk aides and shift managers are trained in customer service principles and are knowledgeable about all of ASN's services and programs.

The Writing Center serves currently enrolled ASU students. Students must be enrolled in at least 1 credit hour at ASU.

The Graduate Academic Support Center serves currently enrolled ASU graduate students by providing graduate writing tutoring. Graduate students must be enrolled in at least 1 credit hour at ASU.

Due to our limited number of available appointments, ASU students are asked to schedule only those appointments needed. Because tutors are not paid consultants, ASN requires that ASU students schedule no more than two consecutive tutoring appointments per day. ASU students can make an additional appointment on the same day but are required to spend time independently applying the techniques shared by the tutor during their earlier tutoring session. Keep in mind that other ASU students will also need to schedule appointments, so we ask that you share the tutors' availability with other students. If the appointment policy is abused by an individual, ASN reserves the right to limit access by reducing the number of appointments that an ASU student can have in one day or week. ASN reserves the right to end an appointment at any time.

During the last week of tutoring each semester, ASU students are limited to 3 appointments per week.

For students who are unable to find an available appointment for writing tutoring or graduate writing tutoring, we offer a drop-in option. Drop-in sessions are not guaranteed and are subject to availability. Drop-in sessions are limited to a maximum timeframe of 20 minutes depending on availability but could be shorter. The drop-in queue is only available during our regular hours of operation.