Services for your students

We are available to help all undergraduate and graduate students, regardless of year, program and standing. Some students who come to see us are struggling academically; others are highly accomplished but want to maintain scholarships or gain admission to graduate or professional schools. SASS offers

• online resources and tools
• drop-in and customized workshops and
• individual appointments in writing and in learning strategies (refer a student).

Learning strategies appointments offers coaching in skills that transfer across disciplines. Some students are seen once to resolve a particular issue; others are seen several times for more in-depth intervention in several areas. Frequently discussed topics include

• managing time, setting priorities and developing work plans
• effective reading and note-making
• preparing for and writing exams
• motivation and procrastination and
• presentation skills.

In writing appointments, we work with writers at every stage in their development, from beginners to very proficient writers. We encourage faculty to recommend writing services to all students; even accomplished writers find writing difficult at times.

Our goal is to help students become more effective thinkers and writers. We do not edit or proofread students’ work; rather, we work collaboratively with students to identify their challenges in writing essays, labs, reports, and dissertations and to help them develop strategies to overcome these challenges.

Many of our writing consultants are experienced professional editors and writers; all have graduate degrees and several have doctoral degrees themselves. Some are faculty members.

Services for faculty and TAs

Request a Workshop

SASS is committed to supporting Queen’s faculty in providing academic support for their students. We offer the following options:

• Class visit to describe SASS services: Our Academic Skills Outreach Coordinator can visit your class to briefly introduce SASS services to your students. Contact Ian Garner to set up a visit. We can also provide you with a PowerPoint slide outlining our services, if you prefer to post it rather than host a class visit.
• Customized workshops by request: We can deliver workshops tailored to your course that focus on principles of academic writing, specific writing conventions of your discipline, reading and learning skills, strategies for tackling a particular assignment or preparing for exams, and more. Click here to arrange a workshop for your class or tutorial/seminar group.
• Collaborative opportunities: We can work with you to ensure that our writing consultants are familiar with your discipline’s writing conventions; the more we know about your expectations for written assignments, the better we can help your students. Contact Ian Garner to discuss how you can participate in a staff development workshop, provide assignment guidelines for consultants to use in sessions with your students, and/or contribute to the development of our writing resources.
• TA Training: We can provide training workshops for your Teaching Assistants and Markers that will enhance their ability to provide effective feedback on student writing. Contact the Director of Student Academic Success Services, Susan Korba, to arrange a session for your TAs/Markers or to find out about a scheduled session in which your TAs/Markers can participate.
• Videos: Explore SASS’s YouTube page for a variety of writing and learning videos.

Please contact us with any other questions or requests.

The Centre for Teaching and Learning can provide direct support to faculty who wish to integrate or improve student writing in their courses. Contact them to ask about individual consultations or group workshops about designing writing assignments, assessing student writing, supporting graduate student writers, and integrating writing into lectures, tutorials, and labs.