One-to-one support
You can have an individual consultation with an academic writing tutor to discuss any difficulties you may have with writing, seek feedback on your written work or gain a better understanding of academic writing conventions and the standards expected at University. You may also wish to consult a tutor about specific aspects of language use, such as sentence structure, grammar or punctuation.
If you already have a marked assignment, you should bring it to your first meeting so that the tutor can identify aspects of your work that need improvement.
If you are working on a new assignment, you can see a tutor at any stage in the writing process, from the moment you start researching the topic to the point when you begin to revise your assignment in preparation for submission.
The purpose of the one-to-one sessions is to enable you to develop the skills you need to produce good writing. In some cases, this will take one or two meetings; in other cases, it will take longer. Demand for the service is high, so normally there is a limit of three meetings per student per semester.
We recommend that you book a session in advance, but a limited drop-in service is also available during termtime. You are welcome to drop in if a bookable slot is free. A weekly timetable displayed at the entrance to the Centre shows which slots are free.
Sessions usually last for 50 minutes.
International students with English as an additional language please note: You can use the Writing Development Centre one-to-one support service if you meet one of the following conditions:
- You have been exempted from language testing and/or the UELA assessment.
- You have attained a mark of 70 or over (level 3) in the UELA assessment.
- You are a continuing student who has attended two semesters of INTO In-Sessional writing classes in the past.
If you are a new international student with a UELA writing score of less than 70, you will be supported by the In-Sessional English programme in the first instance.
User comments on the Writing Development Centre one-to-one sessions
- Non-judgemental, very approachable, made me feel at ease.
- I found the tutor friendly and helpful, and she was able to identify and explain the areas where I could improve.
- Amazing! Everyone should have a one on one session in their first year.
- Very useful, very friendly, very knowledgeable! I wish I had done this earlier :)
- This is a great service. I know it is well used by people who need a lot of practical writing help but is also useful as a way to provide encouragement to those of us working independently on dissertations when supervision is limited and the impetus to carry on begins to wane.
