Please note: This option is only open to students in cohort programs.
FAQ Concerning Online Tutoring
Who may submit papers online?Students in any of Concordia’s cohort programs may submit their papers online. At this time, the Writing Center does not have the resources to accept email submissions from students in Concordia’s traditional (non-cohort) classes.
How should I submit my writing question or a draft of my writing?
To receive tutoring via email, submit your paper, as a Microsoft Word attachment, to
writingcenter@csp.edu. Please also include the following so that tutors can provide you with the best possible feedback on your writing:
- Your name and e-mail address
- Your college or program
- Whether or not this is the first time you’ve used the Writing Center
- Your instructor
- A description of the assignment
- The assignment’s due date
- One to three specific writing issues to concentrate on.
How many papers may I
submit with a single email?
Submit only one piece of writing per email. The best way to improve your
writing is to take the feedback you receive on one paper and apply it to the
next paper you write.
Tutors also respond to writers on a first-come, first-serve basis. If you
submit multiple pieces of writing with one email, tutors are less able to
respond to other writers in a fair and timely manner.
Are there length
requirements on the papers I can submit? Yes. Because the Writing Center is
a teaching service and not an editing service, ideal practice is for tutors to
provide feedback on no more than eight pages at a time and give you the opportunity
to improve your skills by applying what you learn from those pages to future
papers. We realize, however, that students sometimes need help with longer
papers.
For longer papers, students may send the entire paper and designate
which eight pages (maximum) they would like tutors to read and respond to. If the students do not wish to designate a
specific eight pages, tutors will start from the beginning of the paper and read
the first eight pages. After you have
received our feedback on that section, you may submit another eight-page section of
the same paper. Make sure to include specific
questions and/or concerns with each section.
How many times may I submit the same piece of writing?
You may submit the same paper up to two times. In other words, if
you choose to make significant revisions (not just a few editing changes) to
your paper based on tutors’ comments, you may submit your paper one more time.
May I submit a short question to
the Writing Center using email?
Absolutely. Feel free to e-mail or call us with any
writing-related questions or concerns. This is sometimes the most expedient way
to find answers to smaller, less complicated writing questions. We may also attach
one of our handouts to the response in order to provide further
information.
Will tutors correct APA
and grammar errors?
It depends. Tutors provide feedback on a piece of writing with the intent
of helping you develop your writing skills, not with the intent of helping you
produce a perfect paper. Therefore, tutors begin by commenting on high order
concerns: thesis statement, focus, organization, clarity of ideas,
introduction, conclusion, paragraph structure, transitions, and avoiding
plagiarism by citing sources. If those appear solid, tutors focus on low order
concerns: sentence structure and flow, usage, punctuation, mechanics, grammar,
and citation style (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.). In most cases, tutors do not point
out every error in a paper.
Tutors might correct one or two instances of a particular citation or grammar
error, in addition to explaining what the error is, as a means of demonstrating
the concept, but after the first one or two instances, they only provide
guidance so that you gain practice identifying and correcting the error
yourself.
