AWARE Writing Centre

Welcome to the Academic Writing and Research Excellence Centre (AWARE)

The College of Humanities and Social Sciences is home to the Academic Writing and Research Excellence Centre (AWARE). The centre specializes in developing students' academic writing and research skills in both English and Arabic. Its primary objective  is to help students become better writers as they progress through their studies at CHSS.

AWARE instructors work with students to improve and develop their writing skills so that they can produce clear, well-organized and effective assignments. Instead of simply proofreading students’ work before submission, tutors provide helpful feedback on different aspects of their work in order to ensure their ongoing development as writers.

In support of this objective, the centre conducts its work along three lines:

Individual (one-to-one) Appointments

CHSS students can make appointments for individual tutoring sessions with an instructor of English or Arabic during the semester. They can discuss different types of writing assignments, grammar, vocabulary, style and other aspects of academic writing.

There are three options for 1-1 sessions:

1. Face-to-face: conducted in the Academic Resource Centre when/ if COVID restrictions permit. Remember to bring a printed copy of the paper you want to work on.
2. E-tutoring: (attach a paper to your appointment on the booking system – the instructor will review this and return it to you via email). Please note that each e-tutoring appointment is the same 50-minute duration as a face-to-face or synchronous online appointment. The instructor will cover as much of the paper as possible during this session, but this does not mean that an entire paper will be reviewed just because it has been attached to an appointment. Be aware that the review of any given paper may (and usually does) require multiple sessions.
3. Synchronous Online appointment: (using the booking service platform, WCONLINE, to work on the paper collaboratively with the instructor in real time). For options 2 and 3, remember to attach a copy of the paper you want to work on when you make the appointment or at some point before it.

Appointments can be made by clicking on the following link: https://hbku.mywconline.com/

Workshops

AWARE instructors conduct workshops throughout the academic year. These workshops, which may be college-wide or course-specific, focus on various aspects of academic writing including genre, style, grammar and integrity. 

Digital Resources

AWARE’s LibGuides contain lots of valuable information including books recommendations, videos, links, and conference listings, as well as a large number of self-help writing resources in both Arabic and English. Topics range from grammar, punctuation and style to citation, research and tips on writing theses and articles for publication.

If you need assistance with academic English, please visit the AWARE English Centre page.

If you need assistance with academic Arabic, and to access the AWARE Arabic LibGuide, please visit the AWARE Arabic Centre page.