Writing Services is designed to help you learn how to improve your academic writing. By giving you suggestions on how to develop your writing skills, the goal is to help you develop your writing as well as support you in the process of completing your written academic assignments. Working with written assignments that are required as part of your course work at Carleton University, a tutor will help you examine your overall writing process and introduce you to helpful tools and strategies for academic writing at different stages of the process. Meeting with a tutor also gives you access to a ‘live’ reader of your work before you actually hand in a written assignment. This can be helpful to ensure that your ideas are coming across clearly and are easy for your reader to follow. Talking about your writing with a tutor can also help clarify your ideas for yourself. We will not do your writing for you, but we will help you to discover principles for effective writing and hone writing strategies that work for you.
You can meet with a tutor during their drop in hours on the 4th Floor of MacOdrum Library (see below) or online. Writing Services support is free to all students from all departments at all levels of study.
Fall Drop-in Hours
- Monday, September 18th: 11:00am to 4:30pm
- Tuesday, September 19th: 11:00am to 7:00pm
- Wednesday, September 20th: 11:00am to 4:30pm
- Thursday, September 21st: 11:00am to 2:00pm
All on-campus sessions are drop-in and are a maximum of 40 minutes in length. Please bring a copy of the assignment sheet and course outline (if applicable), as well as any notes, outlines or drafts you have done so far. Sessions begin with setting and planning to achieve your goals. We’ll review your assignment requirements and discuss concerns you may have about your writing or the assignment itself.
Writing Services Can Help You
- Discover what you want to say and how to say it
- Develop your ability to express ideas clearly and concisely
- Develop your critical thinking skills
- Structure and organize your writing
- Write better introductions and conclusions
- Develop an argument
- Understand the difference between description and analysis
- Cite your sources appropriately throughout your paper
- Use a consistent format for your bibliography
- Give you tips on how you can proofread/edit your paper