Frequently Asked Questions

The questions below are loosely organized into several categories as listed here. If you have a question using a specific term, like "snail mail" or "Great Books," use that term and your browser's Edit-Find commands to search for those particular words. To keep things clean and simple here, I have linked only selected terms back to their pages elsewhere on the website.

Who Needs What?
What Are My Options?
What Do I Need To Know About Evaluations?
How Does the Process Work & What If I Have a Problem?
May I Ask One Last Question?

Who Needs What?

Who uses Writing Assessment Services?

Most of my services are accessible to mature students seventh grade and up but adaptable even to professional writers, as some of my clients can attest. I tailor evaluations to the needs of each student, and my fees are carefully structured so that you pay only for the actual time I put into serving you personally. Students (or their parents) should be able to type well, so that typographical errors don't interfere with the communication; and they should be able to use internet links and email with comfort.

Clients have used my services to help them complete scholarship applications, remedial work for the GED, Great Books tutorials essays, procedures manuals for computer firms, novels, and a three-paragraph essay on "My Favorite Pet." I trust I can help you!

How can I interest my 13-year-old son in writing?

Although boys in their early teens are the usual culprits driving their mothers to this question, it can apply to almost anyone.

Writing is a discipline like cleaning or math exercises or piano practice. Although it can be wonderfully enjoyable, true excellence takes talent and a lot of work, though most of us can get the basics down to do what needs to be done for school or work or thank-you notes. Whether a student is self-disciplined enough or has a good task-master for a parent, the machine must be working on your end first. I supply enthusiasm and friendly feedback to help encourage a student to plug along in the work he completes.

What about younger students?

Although I have had client children as young as ten or so, they are usually exceptionally good writers with the level of sophistication that enables them to understand and use my evaluative comments profitably. Or they have very involved parents who will help talk them through revisions based on the evaluations.

In general, I believe it is best to allow young children to develop their sophisticated language skills through oral narration and other oral exercises at the same time they are learning on another "track" how to read, how to hold a pencil, how to form letters, and how to write sentences with proper form and punctuation. It is not until the later elementary years that their mechanical skills will be fluent enough for them to be able to express themselves with anything approaching the wonderful art of their oral words, and behind those, the amazing processes of their minds. Of course, interesting children come from interesting households where good books are read and good thoughts discussed.

What writing curriculum do you recommend?

I have yet to find a perfect one, but I have used concepts from The Institute for Excellence in Writing with my own children. Its strengths include teaching the teacher/mom how to teach writing and working WITH, not in addition to, the student's other studies. I was able to preview online Susan Wise Bauer's new writing program, and I like her approach. In general, curricula that claim to guide writing so that the student works independently cannot do a fully adequate job. Writing is an art and a dynamic process that works best with the guidance of a mentor.

We're on a limited budget. How can we make the best use of your services?

First, be sure to explore the links on the Free Resources page, and use those sources to guide you to others. I prefer to give you great gateways rather than list all the individual possibilities. There are worlds of free resources on the internet, including the excellent Online Writing Laboratories maintained by some universities.

Next, consider one of the resources on the Downloads page (updated as I am able). All of these resources are completely free of charge, though you may order evaluations or a consultation if you want extra help.

Finally, shop wisely on this site. You may order on the Consultations page a Single Evaluation of a sample of your child's writing. It will give you a kind of priorities list for what you can work on with him on your own. After some time doing this, you might want to order another to check your progress. If you want more guidance than just an evaluation, consider a Consultation, which includes a valuable courtesy document.

I can offer discounts to those in need and to families with multiple students enrolled. I often offer a bonus of some sort as a thank-you to those enrolling multiple students or re-ordering from year to year.

When should I order a Consultation?

When you have read all of these questions and answers and thoroughly explored the website and recommended resources, you should order a Consultation to discuss your personal needs, or to design a series of assignments for a package. If you're an especially independent homeschooler, you may want to use the Consultation simply to obtain one of the courtesy documents I provide.

What Are My Options?

What if I want immediate feedback on my child's writing? I don't want to wait up to three weeks for an evaluation.

First, consider that evaluations in a package are often returned within just a few days. I use the "up to three weeks" to accommodate especially-hectic times of year. Please email me ahead of time to confirm my availability for 48-hour turnaround, then order the appropriate Single Evaluation or Evaluation Package. This immediate feedback is called a "Rush" order and counts at twice the actual word count. So a 900-word essay "rushed" will count as 1800 words and require an appropriately-sized Evaluation Package. You may also apply the "Rush" option to individual submissions within an Evaluation Package. My courses usually include quick turnaround, also, days or up to a week.

Will you take a look at my child's work from one of the free downloaded tutorials?

Because the real expense of a tutorial is in the "live time" I spend evaluating papers, I can "take a look" at your child's writing only in the context of a Consultation, with which you will receive a valuable courtesy document of your choice. If you want a full evaluation of a writing piece or two, choose a Single Evaluation.

Why is everything done by email or online? May I send real papers for evaluations in traditional red ink?

I have found email exchange of papers and evaluations the most efficient and effective way to offer my services. Though I do offer snail mail service at additional cost and upon inquiry, almost no one has used that option in a number of years.

What Do I Need to Know About Evaluations ?

Isn't writing subjective? How do you evaluate it?

Personal writing, like some poems and diary entries and some fiction, is personal and not meant to be shared nor evaluated by Writing Assessment Services. But even a love poem needs to "work" if it's to move the person receiving it. I evaluate writing according to the context for which it is written: is it appropriate for the audience; does it communicate a message; does it communicate with some level of style? Anything written for an academic, theological, political, journalistic, or business purpose is fair game for evaluation and will be evaluated according to the understood standards of that genre.

What does an evaluation look like?

Please see the Evaluations or Downloads page for samples of what to expect in an evaluation.

What if I don't understand what a comma splice is, or a modifier problem?

I use common, simple grammar/mechanics terminology in my evaluations, and you can look up any of the terms in a writing handbook or online (see Free Resources page for a couple of sources). It is not a good use of my time nor your money for me to take evaluation time to reinvent the wheel, to teach an original lesson on all the proper uses of the comma. So I point you to other sources that you can find on your own.

What if I disagree with your evaluation?

My evaluations are certainly my own opinion and liable to the vagaries of the human condition: fatigue, distraction, momentary stupidity. If ever you believe I have evaluated something in error, please write with your questions--I am happy to reconsider and to correct any errors I might have made. I have been known to lead folk astray on comprise/compose and lay/lie in a weak moment.

When you order a tutorial or evaluation, you are engaging my services and my opinions. I usually "ask good questions" to help you clarify what YOU want to say, and if I challenge an opinion of yours, it may not be a critique of your writing so much as an engagement of your idea. My challenges and questions are also designed to help you consider how you might express yourself more clearly or anticipate an objection from a reader.

Am I supposed to rewrite a paper after you've evaluated it?

Although I highly recommend revisions, my evaluation of a revision is NOT part of the original evaluation fee. If at any time you would like to add the evaluation of a revision, please submit the rewrite as an additional submission in an Evaluation Package (and include in the emailed document a copy of the evaluated original for my best feedback).

Do you assign grades? If so, how?

Most clients like having letter grades on their work, for the purposes of a homeschool portfolio, etc., and almost all of my courses and evaluation packages now include grades. If for some reason you prefer NOT to have a grade, YOU MUST REQUEST "NO GRADE" EACH TIME YOU SUBMIT A PAPER.

I assign grades according to what I would expect of a late high school or early college student. I suggest you figure final grades for a tutorial based on two considerations: one, how much help you gave the student to result in the final version of the assignment, and two, his actual grade level. In a local writing class I have worked grades this way: 11^th and 12^th graders get the assigned grade, 10^th graders add 3 points, 9^th graders add 5 points, 8^th^th graders add 10 points. A B-minus paper, for example, an 81 or so on my scale, would be a B-minus for 11^th and 12 graders, a B (84) for 10^th, a B/B-plus (86) for 9^th, a B-plus (89) for 8^th, and an A-minus for 7^th. Ultimately, though, the parent is the authority for assigning grades for a portfolio or transcript.

For a good idea in general of what constitutes a "C" paper or an "A," please see the Free Resources page.

How Does the Process Work & What if I Have a Problem?

What about due dates?

All of my courses--The Great Books Writing Workshop, Apprenticeship Writing Workshop, and Progymnasmata Tutorials--are designed for scheduled submissions of work, with options for individual pacing. Please recognize that though I am happy to make exceptions in case of real need, you are agreeing to my schedule when you sign up for a service for which a schedule exists. For example, all work for a Great Books Writing Workshop ordered in 2010 must be completed by June 2011, and the Progymnasmata assignments really need to keep momentum from one step to the next, so my recommended schedule is pretty firm.

Great Books tutorial students have due dates assigned by their tutors, and it makes sense to submit those papers on those dates, but any work submitted by mid-June 2011 will be evaluated. There is really no value to my making detailed comments on a stack of assignments at the end of the school year, and I reserve the right to provide streamlined evaluations in the case of multiple submissions in a short period of time.

What is your turnaround time?

If you ask an uncomplicated business question via email, you should hear from me within two days, usually within hours.

Please see the individual services descriptions for details on turnaround time--it varies from two days to three weeks. Even the three-week turnaround Evaluations will usually get back to you within a week, but please feel free to write if you have not received your evaluation by the time you had expected it.

"Rush" evaluations with 48-hour turnaround time are available and described under the "Options" heading above.

I sent in a paper more than 48 hours / one week / three weeks ago (longer than the stated turnaround time) and haven't heard from you yet. What should I do?

If you submitted your work on the CRTeacher.com site, you should check again for my evaluation and then post a note at the site. Sometimes email is lost en route, sometimes I misplace it once it comes in, and sometimes something else odd happens. I estimate that this happens about 1- 2% of the time. When it does happen, I need to know as soon as possible so we can fix it! So drop me an email and we will figure out what is going on.

How long do you keep my email, records of my account, and papers?

If you wrote a general inquiry not connected to an actual order, it will scroll off of my email list within a week or so.

If you have an ongoing account, as for a Course or Evaluation Package, I keep an Excel roster with details of your progress through the course or evaluation account. These records are more-or-less permanent.

If your work is completed on CRTeacher, the posted and evaluated drafts of any given assignment are maintained there, along with my comments on those. Your enrollment in a given course will end in June of the school year, so make printouts! For email service, I maintain copies of my evaluations in my electronic records for at least three months, sometimes up to a year. Please maintain your own records and copies of your evaluations yourself, as I cannot guarantee that yours will be accessible beyond these limits, or even within them if I experience a computer crash or similar disaster (as happened TWICE in 2005-06). Again, if you fail to receive an evaluation on a submitted paper in good time, inquire as soon as possible!

If you need to inquire about a long-since lost paper, an "assessment for the year," or other time-consuming task, please order a Consultation in consideration of the time required.

What if I don't have a PayPal account? What if I don't have a credit card? What if I don't want to order online for security reasons?

Writing Assessment Services uses PayPal with credit/debit card capability, with an option for check/money order, for all online transactions, and your security is assured. You may also print a description of your order and send it with a check or money order to my snail mail address. Make the check payable to Writing Assessment Services and mail it to 154 Dight Road, Slippery Rock, PA 16057.

What about refunds?

I have only very rarely had a client request a refund, and all of those have been for personal reasons, not for dissatisfaction with my services. A very few clients discover mid-stream that a particular service is not working or that they meant to order a different one, and I can make adjustments for that purpose on a case-by-case basis. In any case, I must deduct administrative and other fees from any refund. Also, NO refund may be made more than six months after an order, but I am happy to apply a portion of the fee to an order for the following academic year. Remember, too, that CRTeacher.com service runs from July through June of any "school year," and you will need to pay a new fee to enroll in that service for any portion of the following year.

May I sell or give away copies of my tutorial materials or P.E.P. Talk?

Because the tutorial materials, even the free downloads, represent intellectual property and instruction, they are copyrighted and limited to a single copy, which may be transferred completely (not copied), in its original form, to another party. If your friends are interested in my materials, please send them to www.writingassessment.com. You are on your honor with these requests.

How long can I keep a balance on account?

Only Evaluation Packages should have balances possible, since Workshops and Tutorials have set dates. Evaluation Packages expire at the end of a school year, in June, but remaining balances may be added to new orders for the following year. I have made it my practice to apply a portion of an unused or partially-used course enrollment as a discount on an order for the following year. If you have a family hardship, please contact me so that I can consider your case.

What does all this refund/account balance stuff mean?

It is my desire and commitment to serve my clients with excellence and according to their needs, and I want to do everything possible to work out a mutually-agreeable solution to any problem we might have. The vast majority of my clients have been happy with my services, and the testimonies on the Client Comments page are typical.

May I Ask One Last Question?

How do you do it all--homeschool, run a business, take care of a house and four children and a college-professor husband, and post on Internet message boards and email lists?

To tell the truth, I DON'T do it all. Our "classical homeschool" has been somewhat relaxed, though we have clear goals for our children's academic progress and are always working to challenge them appropriately. I have structured Writing Assessment Services to "run itself" as much as possible with the self-study format of the tutorials and the carefully-considered fee schedule for the time I spend with evaluations. The whole family contributes to household chores. I find this work and my interactions with homeschoolers and others online very satisfying: it is a good use of my own particular assortment of talents; it is one area of ministry for me; it is teacher-training for my education of my own children; and it is stimulating as I exchange ideas with others on the nature of the Christian faith and education and all the areas of study. I'm an academic at heart, and I really enjoy my little niche. And as of 2010/2011, three of my four children are in college!

And when it all comes down to it, I do everything I am able to do, and trust in forgiveness for all I am unable to do, by the grace of God. Thank you for your support!

Please follow the other links on this site to explore courses, evaluations, free downloads, and other resources. Don't forget to check out Client Comments.