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Institutional Review Board (IRB): Group Writing Sessions

Contact the IRB

email icon Email us at irb@ncu.edu and CC your dissertation chair

 Visit the IRB Office Hours page

Group Writing Sessions

IRB group writing sessions provide support for students as they write their supplemental IRB documents and complete their IRB application. In each session, you can learn about a specific IRB topic in a small group setting with your peers. You can also receive direct feedback on your materials in the sessions on Eligibility Criteria, Recruitment Materials, and Consent Letters.

Group sessions are scheduled daily. You may attend the same session as many times as you would like.

Group writing sessions are led by IRB members. However, no review or determination of your study will be made in a group writing session.

Register for a Session

We recommend attending sessions in the order shown below. Please choose the topic that you'd like to register for:

Session #1: Eligibility criteria. Links to schedule for group sessions on eligibility criteria Session #2: Recruitment materials. Links to schedule for group sessions on recruitment materials Session #3: Consent letter. Links to schedule for group sessions on consent lettersSession #4: Introduction to IRB application. Links to schedule for group sessions on introduction to IRB applicationAll sessions. Links to full schedule for group sessions on all topics

Attendance Policy

Slots for group writing sessions are limited. If you registered for a session and can no longer attend, please cancel your registration so that someone else can attend. You can cancel through the confirmation and reminder emails you received for your session.

Please note that the facilitator begins the presentation 1-2 minutes past the start of the session. After 5 minutes, no additional attendees will be admitted, to avoid disruption. Late attendees will need to reschedule.

Feedback Policy

All researchers are welcome to attend sessions just to learn the content. However, if you are working with adult participants, we strongly encourage you to receive feedback on your materials before submitting your IRB application.

To receive feedback in a group session, you must do the following:

  1. Be in attendance. You must be present to engage in a conversation about your study. We will not review documents for students who do not attend the group session or leave the session before their document is reviewed. We also will not review documents sent via email during or after the session.
  2. Be working with human subjects. These sessions are beneficial to researchers who are interacting with human subjects, whether you are working with adult or minor participant groups. Researchers who are solely using archival data may not need to attend and receive feedback in group writing sessions.
  3. Attach your document to the registration form at least 24 hours before your session time. The facilitators need to prepare for their sessions and will only review documents that have been attached on the registration form at least 24 hours before the session. If you do not have your IRB documents available at the time that you register, you may attach them later using the link in the confirmation and reminder emails for your session. If you have any difficulty attaching your documents, please follow our IRB Writing Services Guide. If you still experience technical issues, please email irb@ncu.edu.

Please apply all feedback you receive in the group writing sessions before submitting or resubmitting your IRB application.

I can't attend any of the group writing sessions. What do I do?

If you can't attend the group writing sessions, you may: