The Writing Support Desk staff work closely with faculty and staff in a variety of ways to provide students the highest level of support with their academic writing.
At the beginning of each semester, WSD staff make short visits to various classes to inform students about the service. These visits usually take no more than three-to-four minutes and cover the purpose of writing support, how to book an appointment or register for a workshop, and where to access more information. A WSD staff member may reach out to you before the start of the semester to offer a classroom visit, but instructors are encouraged to request a visit for their classes by emailing writingsupport@uwindsor.ca before each semester begins.
We also welcome instructors to share this three-minute video that introduces Writing Support and how to access our services:
As per Bylaw 31, the WSD can only help students with take-home exams if they can provide written permission from their instructor. If your course involves a take-home exam, you may receive emails from students requesting permission. In this case, if you wish to either permit or forbid students from using the WSD for their take-home exam, please be sure to CC writingsupport@uwindsor.ca with your response.
Instructors may also provide blanket permission to their entire class on their syllabi if they so choose. The following wording may be useful for your course syllabi:
Students in this section of (course name/course code) have permission to use the Writing Support Desk when working on course assignments, including the take-home exam (and/or take-home midterm).
Some instructors choose to encourage their students to attend either a WSD consultation or workshop during the semester by offering a participation or bonus mark for their attendance. WSD staff are happy to work with faculty to record attendance for this purpose. Generally, a shared spreadsheet is used in order to record attendance in real time, and instructors can access this spreadsheet to track students’ use of the WSD. Please email writingsupport@uwindsor.ca to set up participation tracking.
The WSD is a tutorial service rather than a proofreading service. During each consultation, WSD staff aim to read through some of the student's work to help correct a portion of it; however, the goal of the service is to improve students’ writing skills through individual instruction, not to simply correct their writing errors.
The WSD is happy to provide accessibility accommodations to any student who requires them. We can provide phone consultations to students registered with Student Accessibility Services who may require this option. For other accommodations, please contact the WSD in advance, and we will work with Accessibility Services to ensure all students can comfortably access WSD services.
While the WSD welcomes group assignments, we limit the number of group members present at each appointment to three people in order to avoid crowding our workspace. The student who booked the appointment in their name must be present at the group appointment. The writing advisor will work with each group member on the portion of the assignment that they contributed. If a group member is not present, the writing advisor will not address their portion of the project.
The WSD is a service of the Office of Student Experience and is thus only available to current students of the University of Windsor. In order to book an appointment, students require access to mySuccess. Students of all levels, including both graduate and undergraduate, can receive support. Faculty, staff, and alumni who are not current students of the University of Windsor are unable to receive support from the WSD.
As the WSD is an exceptionally busy service, we encourage students to always book appointments and register for workshops in advance via mySuccess. Our workshops often fill up, and appointments tend to book up approximately a week in advance. Students should be encouraged to plan ahead and book appointments early in order to avoid disappointment. The WSD does not offer drop-in hours.
Some instructors choose to inform their students about the WSD on their course syllabi and/or to provide permission to all students to receive WSD assistance with take-home exams.
The following wording may be useful to include on your course syllabi:
To encourage students to use the WSD: Students are encouraged to seek writing assistance for this course via the University of Windsor Writing Support Desk. For more information, please visit uwindsor.ca/writingsupport or book a consultation via mySuccess.
To include class credit for use of the WSD (or attendance of a WSD workshop): Students in this section of (course name/course code) may receive (a bonus mark/a participation mark) for (attending a Writing Support Desk workshop/attending a consultation with an advisor at the Writing Support Desk). For more information on how to (register for a workshop/book an appointment), please visit uwindsor.ca/writingsupport or visit mySuccess to (register/book). Please be sure to alert the advisor that you are part of a course that receives credit during your appointment (or clearly note the course awarding credit on the sign-in sheet at the workshop).
To permit students to use the WSD for take-home exams/midterms: Students in this section of (course name/course code) have permission to use the Writing Support Desk when working on course assignments, including the take-home exam (and/or take-home midterm). For more information, visit uwindsor.ca/writingsupport or book a consultation via mySuccess.