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Writing Support

Writing support at Waterloo and Brantford can help undergraduate and graduate students develop the writing skills needed to succeed in their academic studies. We provide an accessible, supportive, student-centred environment where ideas can take shape and students can develop their writing through critical thinking.

Writing support includes:

  • One-on-one writing appointments with a student or professional staff member.
  • On-campus, in-class, and online writing workshops.
  • Online writing resources.

Writing support on the Waterloo campus is through the Writing Centre.

Writing support on the Brantford campus is through Writing and Study Skills Services.

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The Writing Centre offers individual and in-class writing support for all students at Laurier's Waterloo campus. We work with undergraduate and graduate students at any stage of the writing process to help them enhance their academic writing. The key principle of our approach is to support the writing that goes on in the classroom in a way that helps students become better writers and achieve their academic goals. Our work is informed by internal and external research on academic writing and instruction.

The Writing Centre has two full-time staff and approximately 23 paid student tutors.

We are located in the Teaching and Learning Commons, 2nd floor Peters. Look for the Writing and Learning Lab, room P226.
You can also find us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

We offer writing support in a variety of ways:

  • Individual consultations with trained student tutors.
  • Access to writing resources.
  • On-campus workshops.
  • In-class lectures or workshops at the request of faculty.

The Writing Centre is grateful for the support of the Student Life Levy and the Beckman Writing Centre Endowment.

Mission, Values, and Guiding Principles

Our mission is to help students become better writers and achieve their academic goals.

We value:

  • An accessible, supportive, dynamic, community environment where ideas can take shape.
  • Learning that is student-centered, engaged, and interactive.
  • Diversity and a culture of inclusivity.
  • The crucial connection between critical thinking and writing.
  • The principles of academic research, inquiry, and integrity.
  • The central role of language in the production of all text forms.
  • The academic and institutional traditions of writing.

Our guiding principles:

  • The Writing Centre uses a genre-based approach to promote genre awareness among students and faculty. This approach is derived from analysis of professional academic writing, model student writing, and writing theory and research.
  • The Writing Centre recognizes difference and diversity among the various academic disciplines and, more generally, among discourse communities and rhetorical situations. We see the Writing Centre as having expertise on writing, rhetoric, and discourse; but each academic discipline is expert in its own disciplinary discourses and genres.
  • The Writing Centre does not operate as a service for "defective students" but strives to support students in developing understanding of and competency in academic text conventions and language, in partnership with the various disciplines.
  • The Writing Centre program is research based; that is, we use research to inform our work. Pedagogy and research are tied. The notion that teaching and research intertwine is a foundational value of universities.

Writing and Study Skills Services on Brantford's campus can help you develop the skills you need to excel in your academic studies. You can learn to take better notes, practice better review strategies, and improve your written and oral communication. We are an integrated service and can help you with your writing and studying concerns.

This section is about writing. For information about study skills services, see our Study Skills pages.

We offer writing support in a variety of ways:

Laurier Experience Record

Many of our workshops are eligible for the Laurier Experience Record (LER). These include:

  • Writing Well
  • Enhance Your Writing Style
  • Citing Sources Successfully

For more information, contact Writing and Study Skills Services.

Blog

The team in Writing and Study Skills Services (Brantford) value our commitment to aiding students and meeting their academic needs. In our effort to increase communication with our students, our student peer mentors contribute to a blog to post helpful, inspirational and occasionally humorous content that we hope will be of interest to and helpful to you.