When to Use a Writing Tutor

If you are unsure of what type of academic help you should use, you will find the Which Academic Support Should You Use? decision tree especially useful. 

If you’ve reviewed the writing and APA guides and still have a question, a writing tutor is available to help anytime—24/7/365. Get writing help through chat, an interactive whiteboard, or audio.

The writing tutors support students in the following ways:

  • Answer a specific writing question you have
  • Provide tips to improve your writing skills
  • Cannot edit your writing or write any part of your assignment

When to Use Another Type of Writing Support

To ensure you use the best writing support for your needs, review the following information on what each support can provide:

Course Instructor

  • Answers questions about Canvas or the course
  • Answers questions about the assignment or rubric
  • Provides guidance of what learning supports you may benefit from

Writing Guides

  • Self-help writing and APA guides, samples, and templates for you to follow
  • Writing Refreshers to help you improve your writing

Grammarly

  • Immediate check of grammar and punctuation
  • Does not review APA
  • Does not review content

Paper Review

  • General writing feedback to help you revise and improve your writing
  • Not a proofreading, editing, or APA service
  • Does not review the content of the paper or check for plagiarism

How to Maintain Academic Integrity while Using Tutoring

  • Do not take your assignment to the session to complete there
  • Do not ask a tutor to edit or complete any part of your assignment
  • Do not ask a tutor to provide you with research sources for your paper 

How to Have an Effective Tutoring Session

  • Prepare for a tutoring session by creating specific questions for your tutor
  • Work on only 1 or 2 questions or concepts during a single session
  • Limit your session to 30 min. and then work on your own
  • Take notes during the session so you can work on your own after the session

Accessing 24/7 Live Writing Tutoring:

  1. Click on the “Writing Center & Library” link within your course.Canvas classroom left navigation with arrow pointing to Writing Center & Library link
  2. Click on the “Chat Now” button. Writing Center landing page within Canvas with arrow pointing to the Chat Now button/link.
  3. Click on the "Tutoring" button on the screen that opens.
     Visual of Live Tutoring Free: Connect Now button

     

  4. This will open a screen to the Live Writing Tutoring service.
  5. You will be asked to state the writing question you have before connecting to a live tutor. You can also upload a document if you'd like, but this is optional.  Showing where to type your writing question. Within the box under the statement: Please describe your Writing question. Example writing question is: I need help revising my thesis statement and citing my sources.

     

  6. Click the "Submit" button to connect with a live writing tutor.Visual of Submit button

     

Accessing Past Live Writing Tutoring Sessions:

  1. Follow the same process you went through to access the live writing tutoring service above.
     
  2. When you get to the “describe your writing problem” screen, close this screen by clicking the X in the upper left corner to reveal your TutorMe dashboard.
     Arrow pointing to the X in the upper left corner of the Describe your writing problem screen
  3. From the TutorMe dashboard, open your student account area to find the “Past Lessons” tab.
     Arrow pointing to Past Lessons from the student TutorMe dashboard
  4. You will find previous live writing tutoring sessions within “Live Lessons.”
     Arrow pointing to Live Lessons on the Past Lessons screen

Related Video Tutorial

Using 24/7 Writing Tutoring Video Icon