As a history student, I write a lot of essays and research papers. In fact, at York University, no matter what your major is, chances are you will receive at least one or two writing assignments for each of your classes. And these writing assignments are usually worth a lot of percentages. Therefore, it is absolutely essential that you do well on them. Otherwise, your grade will suffer.

However, not everybody has great writing skills. International students may face more challenges since they have not mastered the language. As a result, many people get a headache when the course instructor announces, “Ok everybody! Let us talk about the requirements of the next research paper.”

Well, you don’t need to have a headache anymore. The solution is right here on campus – Centre for Academic Writing (CAW). CAW is located in room 329, Ross Building South. It is created by York’s Writing Department to help students improve their writing skills and produce better papers. Here, a pool of writing instructors are available to assist you individually. But to use this great resource, you first need to register with CAW. The steps are simple.

First, make a trip to CAW personally and tell the receptionist that you’d like to register for a writing tutor. The receptionist will ask you to fill out a form. You need to write down your program of study and available times. CAW will match you with a tutor who is in the same or similar program and has similar availabilities as you.

Then you just need to wait for a day or two. CAW will email you when they have matched you with a tutor. After that, every time you need help with an essay or a paper, you just need to call CAW at 416-736-5134 to make an appointment with your tutor.  Your tutor will work with you one on one and help you produce a better paper. Each appointment is approximately one hour long.

Keep in mind that CAW is not a proofreading or grammar checking centre. You tutor will not edit spelling and grammar mistakes for you. You are expected to do this on your own. Instead, your writing tutor will help you with interpreting assignments, research, brainstorming ideas, organizing content, and so on. Also, since writing instructors are always in high demand, make sure you book your appointment as early as you can to avoid disappointment. And if you cannot make to an appointment, you need to cancel it at least 24 hours in advance so your appointment can be made available to other students. Failure to cancel may jeopardize your eligibility for future appointments.

In addition to in-person appointments, CAW also offers the option of online writing instruction. This is to accommodate students who have a tight deadline and have no time to book an appointment. Through this option, students may submit their papers to CAW electronically. An instructor will review it and comment on its style, structure, and organization. Again, the instructor will not do any editing or proofreading. The instructor usually does not read more than five or six pages. Therefore, you should send a short draft instead of an entire essay. Finally, it usually takes two to three days before the instructor emails your essay back to you. You want to submit your essay as early as possible so you will have time to make changes after you receive it back. Don’t wait until the day before the deadline.

To submit your paper to CAW electronically, visit “http://www.yorku.ca/laps/writ/etutor.html” and click on “click here to get started” at the bottom of the page. Follow the steps and fill out the required information and paste your draft. Be sure to be as specific as possible on assignment requirements so the instructor can provide comments accordingly.

CAW also offers workshops on topics such as “How to Develop a Thesis,” “Eliminating Basic Sentence Errors,” and “Effective Editing.” These workshops are designed to train you to become effective writers. A list of workshops is available in CAW office. You are highly recommended to attend some sessions.