Writing Practice – Academic Writing
Overview of the sessions
Preparing a written assignment? Working on your dissertation or thesis? This session is for you!
You can sign up for free, online 25-minute (UGs & PGTS) one-to-one sessions with a specialist English language tutor, who can help you develop your academic writing skills. If you are a PGR student, the sessions last 50 minutes, for IFP students the sessions are 20 minutes.
You are also welcome to bring your questions regarding good academic practice or your Turnitin report if you need help identifying issues and how to address them.
We hold these sessions all year round, but there may be limited availability during holiday periods.
Who are these sessions for?
These appointments are open to all St Andrews students. However, these sessions cannot be booked by foundation students taking EAP modules or pre-sessional students at IELLI
What we can help with
You can use your appointment to get help with
- Grammar
- Coherence and Cohesion
- Sentence length and structure
- Punctuation and spelling
- Academic register and vocabulary
- The overall structure of an essay, report or thesis chapters
- Referencing, both within the text and in a bibliography
- Good Academic Practice
- Understanding Plagiarism
What we can’t help with
Please note we cannot help with
- Generating ideas and content and ideas. Please discuss this with your supervisor or course tutors.
- Anything other than academic work. We are happy to help with journal articles but not CVs, for example.
- Proofreading your work. This is not a proofreading service; it is a learning opportunity to help you better understand your mistakes and how to address them.
Who will be my tutor?
Our tutors are highly qualified and experienced language teachers who can help you with the linguistic and general academic aspects of your presentation. However, they will not be able to assist with content questions. Our tutors have a wide range of teaching commitments, so you may not be able to see the same tutor at all your appointments.
Guidelines for appointments
To ensure the smooth running of the service, please remember that
- You can only book 6 appointments per semester. This allocation includes any Good Academic Practice appointments you may book.
- Foundation students can only book 2 appointments per semester
- Appointments are individual and non-transferable. Please make sure you cancel your appointment if you can no longer attend.
- Appointments are subject to availability, and priority is given to students who use English as a second language.
- You can only book one appointment at a time. Please only book one appointment per week.
- If you are more than 10 minutes late, your appointment will be cancelled, and you won’t be able to make an appointment until the following month.
- Shortly after you book your appointment, you will receive an email with a calendar appointment to let you join the online meeting in which your appointment will take place. This email will include how to submit your work in advance. Please allow 48 working hours so that our tutors can give meaningful feedback on your work.
- If a tutor looks at a sample of work that has not yet been assessed, you must declare this when you submit the piece, as per the Language Correction Policy (page 3).
Booking an appointment
Please click on the link below. Please note it will open a new window
You can book appointments up to 7 days in advance. Please remember to cancel your appointment if you can no longer attend. Thank you for helping us keep the service effective and inclusive for all our students.