About The Writing Centre

Writing Centre tutors discuss your course related writing work with you in order to develop your writing in areas such as:

• Business & Technical Writing: e.g. proposals, recommendation reports, user manuals, letters, memos
• Academic Writing: e.g. essays, research papers, thesis statements
• Grammar and Punctuation
• Style & Format: main ideas, overall structure, paragraphing, transitions and flow; conciseness, specificity, clarity, reader access
• Citation: e.g. APA, MLA, plagiarism avoidance

Tutors do not help with:

• Writing that is not course-related (e.g. resumes, cover letters, grad school applications)
• Proofreading or editing
• Providing topic or content ideas
• Commenting on grades

Tutors will work with you to identify the most important problems with a specific piece of writing. You and your tutor will then discuss and develop strategies to overcome those problems.

Your tutor will greet you and ask what you would like to work on.

A typical session goes through the following stages:

• The tutor might then ask you questions about the assignment and the piece of writing that you’ve brought in.
• You or your tutor will then read parts of your work aloud.
• You and your tutor will then determine an agenda for the remainder of the session (i.e. what aspects of your writing to focus on during the rest of the session).
• You will work through the agenda together. Expect your tutor to ask you numerous questions about what you’ve written, why you’ve written it that way, and how you might change it.
• Finally, you will be asked to summarize what you have learned, and then to fill out a feedback form.

Bring a print out of the writing you’d like to discuss as well as any corresponding assignment sheet(s).

All sessions are by drop-in during our Writing Centre hours.

Free eTutoring help is available to BCIT students through WriteAway. The service is open in the fall, winter, and spring/summer semesters. To get writing assistance from a WriteAway tutor:

• Login to eTutoring via the WriteAway login page by choosing British Columbia Institute of Technology. If it is your first time using the service, on the BCIT page create an account by clicking on the ‘Need an account’ link.
• Once you have logged in to eTutoring, from your home page you can either send an eQuestion (a quick question about writing or grammar), or you can upload a draft writing assignment for feedback by clicking on the eWriting Lab link.
• A tutor at any of the participating institutions will read your writing assignment, provide written guidance, and upload their response to the eTutoring platform. you can submit up to three drafts of any paper.
• An email notification will be sent to you letting you know that feedback on your draft writing assignment is ready to be picked up from the system.

See BCIT Professional English Language Development or
BCIT Communication Department

We do most of our hiring at the beginning of term, with occasional hiring taking place within the term. Peer Tutors need to have excellent grades and an instructor recommendation. Contact learningcommons@bcit.ca for more information.