Important note for all students: please addwsdropbox@athabascau.ca to your safe senders list (known as safelisting). If you are not receiving emails from us, please check your junk.
Welcome to the Write Site dropbox! From here, you can submit your paper for written feedback. Please review the information on this page first. Read time: 10-15 minutes.
Students with Accessibility Services can request extra writing support.Contact the coordinator or ask your coach for more information.
We strive to make our coaching accessible to everyone. On the dropbox form, you can state your preferences. For example:
coloured background or font
increased font size
audio feedback
If you have a need we are not meeting, please contact the coordinator. We are open to your suggestions.
If the drop box has reached maximum capacity, you may have to try again later. We recognize that this is an imperfect system and are working to improve it. Thank you for your patience!
Enter your course number as follows: XXXX###, e.g. ENGL255.
Enter the documentation type, e.g. APA or MLA. Contact your tutor or instructor if you’re not sure.
If your paper is longer than eight pages, indicate which section(s) of the paper you want the coach to focus on.
Upload your file.
Only Word or Text documents (.doc, .docx, and .txt) are accepted. The dropbox does not accept pages and PDF documents. You can access Word for free through Office 365. Please contact the coordinator with your file if it must be a PDF, PowerPoint, or other format.
Use only letters and numbers in your file name (not non-alpha-numeric characters like %, ^, or #).
The file must be under 1MB in size. Please remove all images.
After a successful upload, you will receive a confirmation email.
If you do not receive an email, please safelist wsdropbox@athabascau.ca. If you’ve already safelisted our address, your upload may not have succeeded. Contact the Assistant Coordinator to double-check.
By midnight on the third business day, you will receive an email with your coached assignment attached. The coached paper will be emailed to the email address you have used on the submission form.
Business days do not include weekends and statutory holidays.
Technical issues
Check the date you submitted it. Our turn-around time is three business days.
If you still cannot find your coached paper, contact us for support.
Check that the file name is free of non-alpha-numeric characters (e.g. % ^ * , ).
Check that the file has an extension of .doc, .docx, or .txt.
Make sure the file is under 1MB in size.
Remove all photos or graphics.
If you have met these requirements but your document was not accepted, please contact us.
If you get this message when you try to log in, empty your browser’s cache. Click for instructions.
Please try again in 8-12 hours or contact us for support.
Guidelines and FAQ
The goal of writing coaching is to support your development as a confident writer and editor of your work. Writing coaches do not write, revise, edit, or proofread your paper.
Writing coaches:
show you areas to work on
explain how to find and correct errors
provide resources for learning
You can submit an assignment to the Write Site dropbox to receive feedback on your writing from a Write Site coach. Please tell us if you would like audio feedback instead of written. Or, you can book an appointment with a coach to ask questions and discuss your assignment.
You are welcome to request a specific coach if you wish. We will do our best to honour your request when possible. However, we encourage you to work with multiple coaches to get different perspectives.
We are a team of full-time faculty members with graduate degrees in Creative Writing, Cultural Studies and Critical Theory, English, English Education, English as an Additional Language, and Literary Studies. We are here to support your educational journey. Learn more about us.
Important: Coaches cannot explain how to do assignments or help with course content. Course content includes lessons, readings, and the assignment topic/requirements. Please contact your tutor or instructor if you have questions or concerns about these. If your writing coach's suggestions don’t seem to match the instructions, ask your instructor. Learn strategies to help you read and understand your assignment.
We primarily provide support with assignments for AU courses. However, we may be able to help with other types of writing, such as career writing, graduate school applications, and scholarship applications. This depends on our availability. Please contact the coordinator to learn more.
Your coach will usually focus on three to four areas for you to work on. Depending on your assignment's length and complexity, you can expect to receive 10-25 comments or more.
For papers longer than 8 pages, please note which sections you would like the coach to focus on.
Although your coach may not be able to comment on the whole paper, you can apply what you’ve learned from their comments to the rest of your assignment. Please contact your coach if you have questions about understanding or applying the feedback.
When writing your assignment, plan ahead. It can take three business days to receive our response. Leave enough time to revise and edit your paper once returned.
Before you submit, consider highlighting areas or adding comments where you have questions or concerns.
Do your best to revise or edit your paper before submitting it. Occasionally we may return it for you to work on more first. Use our editing checklist to help get you started.
After you receive feedback, your job is to review the feedback and resources and use them to revise and edit your paper more. Please also apply what you’ve learned to your next assignment before submitting it for coaching.
Developing as a writer takes time. We encourage you to use the Write Site for multiple assignments.
You can submit one assignment at a time. Once we return your coached assignment, the dropbox will not accept assignments from you for 48 hours. During this time, we ask that you read your coach’s feedback and apply it to your next assignment. This way, you can learn from each assignment and get feedback on your progress.
Please do not book an appointment to meet with a coach and submit to the drop box for written feedback at the same time. Read our appointment guidelines here.
You may receive an email stating that you have only a certain number of submissions left. If you reach the maximum, please contact us for support.
Yes, you can submit an assignment up to two times or book a follow-up appointment. Before submitting again, please revise or edit based on your coach’s comments. Our editing checklist is a helpful tool for this process.
This will allow you to:
Ask further questions
Get feedback on your progress
Learn about other areas to work on
If you only have 1-2 questions as you read your coach’s feedback, please contact your coach directly by email or phone. However, if you would like us to read a second draft, then you must submit it to the dropbox.
If you can’t access the dropbox because our capacity has been reached, please try again in 8-12 hours. If you still cannot access it, please contact us for support.
Writing coaches do not evaluate or mark your writing assignment, and we cannot guarantee your desired grade. We provide feedback and support on your writing as writing experts outside the context of your course.
Readers might not always agree. You can consider all feedback, but please follow the comments from your instructor first.
Writing coaches will not comment on grades, tutors, instructors or appeals. However, if you need support with what to do next, you can contact the Write Site coordinator.