Your ShepOWL response should have four distinct components.

You should begin with a greeting that explains how online tutoring works and make at least one positive comment about the student’s paper.

The second section discuss some broad comments about the student’s work and point out recurring problems.

The third component of your ShepOWL response ought to be specific comments made in the body of the students paper.

You should end with a closing paragraph that encourages the student to make revisions and consider visiting the Academic Support Center.

Type all of your comments in ALL CAPS so the student can easily tell you writing from theirs.  Explain why you are doing this.

Resist the temptation to edit.  If you find consistent grammatical problems, explain the rule and then point out a few examples in the body of the text.  Remember, we’re here to help students improve their writing, not to proof read.

Try not to use the editing functions in Microsoft Word.  Not all of our prospective clients are familiar with those functions, or may not even use Word, and may become confused.

When making your local comments use the ← symbol to indicate what passage you’re referring to.  You can make it by typing < followed by --.

If a student sends a paper in the body of an email, encourage them to send it as an attachment next time.