Registering
Before you can book an appointment, you must have an account with the Writing Centre. Create a new account
Logging In
- Go to the login page
- Enter your email address and password (the one you created when you registered your account with us)
- Select "Writing Centre: Fall or Spring" from the drop-down menu
- Click "Log In"
Appointments
- Sign up for or cancel appointments
- Appointments last for 30 minutes
- Available time slots show up as white boxes (click on the box corresponding to the time, day, and tutor you want)
- You are allowed two half-hour appointments a week to give you time to make progress on your essay
- You can cancel an appointment up to 25 minutes before the appointment start time (click on the appointment slot and select Cancel This Appointment)
- If you’re five minutes late for an appointment, any student can claim that appointment
- Three no-shows result in no more appointments for the rest of the semester
Help Provided
- Tutors will help you with all stages of the writing process, but they won’t proofread your essay for you
- Tutors will teach you the skills to proofread your essay
- Resources are available for your use. Feel free to come in and use the reference material
- Tutors will not discuss grades or help you with any examination material, including take-home exams
- After multiple appointments on the same essay, tutors reserve the right to withdraw assistance at their discretion to ensure that the essay remains your own work
- Information from your instructor always takes precedence over information from a Writing Centre tutor.
Online Appointments
- Online appointments (eTutoring and Video Chat) are reserved for VIU Distance students (i.e. students taking online classes)
- Sign up for or cancel online appointments; make sure you select "Schedule Video Chat Appointment" or "Schedule eTutoring Appointment" from the drop-down menu (otherwise, the system defaults to booking a face-to-face appointment)
- You are allowed two half-hour online appointments a week to give you time to make progress on your essay
- You can cancel an appointment up to 25 minutes before the appointment start time (click on the appointment slot and select Cancel This Appointment)
- There are two different online services: eTutoring and Video Chat
- eTutoring is asynchronous (i.e. you upload your assignment, and the tutor looks at it and then uploads their feedback at the end of the appointment time)
- Video Chat is a real-time conversation between you and the tutor (i.e. you can talk to and see the tutor via video link).
We use Zoom for video chat - Note: not every tutor offers online appointments; when booking, look under the tutor's name (on the left-hand side of the page) to see which services they offer
Drop-in – no appointment required
- First-come, first-served basis
- Brief tutorials: 15 minutes
- One tutorial a day, depending on availability
- Come with specific questions, such as:
- I’m not sure what the assignment asks me to do
- I’d like help choosing a topic
- I’d like help citing sources