About AWARE

Our Philosophy

"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime".   
                                                                                                                                                  -Maimonides

The philosophy of our writing centre is the same as that set forth in the famous quote above.

Our primary objective is to help students become better writers in the long-term. We aim to achieve this by helping students improve and develop their writing skills so that they can produce clear, well-organised and effective assignments. Instead of simply proofreading students’ work before submission, writing instructors will provide helpful feedback on different aspects of students’ work in order to ensure their ongoing development as writers.

Mission

Our mission is to help CHSS students become more effective writers in their respective disciplines by engaging them in critical conversations regarding their writing at any stage of the writing process.

In support of this mission, AWARE seeks to support students by providing one-to-one consultations and academic writing workshops. A comprehensive collection of online self-help resources – including informative handouts and videos – is also provided and regularly updated on the AWARE LibGuide pages.

Vision

AWARE’s goal is to develop capable and confident independent writers while becoming a trusted and reliable college resource.

FAQs

Who is the Centre for?

AWARE is a service that is available to all CHSS students. This means that that we are happy to assist students from any programme within the college and at any stage of the writing process. Nevertheless, it should be borne in mind that we are not subject specialists and can therefore not offer content knowledge for specific disciplines/ programmes.

We understand that for some students on campus this will be their first time studying in English in higher education, while for others it will be something they have already experienced. AWARE welcomes all students regardless of the degree of assistance they require, and our ultimate goal always remains the same – to help develop better writers.

We also encourage faculty to use our services, especially if they feel we can assist their students in a particular task or aspect of writing.

 

Where are we located?

AWARE English is located in the Academic Resource Centre (CHSS Library), Penrose House (LAS Building), First Floor (above Starbucks).

AWARE Arabic is located in Room A101I.

 

What do we do?

We aim to assist students with their academic writing assignments/ thesis by primarily offering the following services:

1. Paper review sessions. These are one-to-one pre-booked 50-minute consultations.
2. Workshops on different aspects of academic writing and research.
3. Provision of relevant writing resources including videos and handouts.

The goal of the Writing Centre is to empower you to improve your writing skills so that you can produce clear and effective writing. We can look at one assignment per Paper Review session, and we will review as much of the document as possible in the time available. It is important to remember that you should have a clear idea of what you would like to focus on during the session (e.g. outlining, sentence/ assignment structure, academic writing style, punctuation etc.) before you arrive. Additionally, instructors will provide helpful feedback about different patterns that appear in your writing so that you can improve the quality of your work immediately, and most importantly, over the long-term.

In our review, we provide constructive feedback on different aspects of your paper, which may include, but are not limited to the following areas:

• the writing process;
• how to tackle different academic writing assignment types;
• cohesion, flow, and organization;
• grammar, sentence structure and punctuation;
• academic writing style and word choice;
• how to avoid plagiarism/ citation and referencing; and
• we highlight the weakest elements of your writing so you can focus on them when revising your paper.

We can also help you to:

• understand assignment topics better;
• develop your ideas/ thesis/ argument;
• learn the writing process effectively;
• improve your introductions, conclusions and body paragraphs;
• construct more effective sentences; and
• utilize a variety of transitions and reporting verbs in your writing.

What do we not do?

• Our writing instructors are not subject matter experts, so they cannot comment on the validity of the academic content of a student’s work. More specifically, so we cannot provide feedback on:
  • The correctness of any claims students make relating to their topic.
  • The accurateness of student research and / or translated text.
• We do not tell you what you should think.
• Writing instructors are in no way responsible for ensuring that students complete assignments in accordance with assignment deadlines.
• In order to allow as many students as possible to receive feedback on academic coursework, the Writing Centre does not generally review personal statements, CVs, or scholarship applications. If you would like help with any of the above mentioned, please contact the instructor via email or pop in for a chat. Wherever possible, we will try to accommodate your requests.