Writing Centre

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About the Writing Centre

The Writing Centre is closed for the summer. It will reopen in September for the fall 2026 term.

Located in the library, the Writing Centre provides Saint Paul University students with assistance in writing, organizing, and formatting academic papers in a safe and non-judgmental space. Whether you are in the early or the final stages of the writing process, the writing advisor will provide constructive feedback and recommend resources and strategies that are tailored to your needs. You can also receive help if you are looking to avoid plagiarism, understand your professors’ instructions, or improve your time management skills.

Assistance is provided through:

  • Zoom and Microsoft Teams virtual meetings;
  • Email;
  • Phone meetings;
  • In-person meetings.
Information and Contact

The Writing Centre is closed for the summer. It will reopen in September for the fall 2026 term.

During the academic year, you can book a meeting with the writing advisor by email at redaction-writing@ustpaul.ca or by phone at 613-236-1393 ext. 2217.

  • Please send the following documents when contacting the Writing Centre for assistance: full course syllabus, assignment guidelines, grading rubric (if available), and draft. If you are unsure about the relevance of a document, send it anyway.
    • Accepted file formats: Word (.doc), PDF (.pdf), and Google Docs.
  • To serve as many students as possible, we limit appointments to one 45-minute appointment per week per student.
  • Please let us know ahead of time if you require physical or technological accomodations during the appointment.

Cancellation and Attendance Policies

  • If you need to cancel your appointment, please do so as early as possible in order to free up the time slot for another student.
  • In case of a late arrival (more than 15 minutes), the time slot may be offered to other students.
  • After two no-shows (failure to attend without advance notice), you may lose all Writing Centre privileges for the remainder of the term.
Lunch & Learn Workshops

At the start of each fall and winter semester, the Library and the Writing Centre put on a series of lunchtime workshops—called Lunch & Learns—focusing on a variety of topics relevant to students starting or returning to university. We strongly recommend attending as many of the Lunch & Learns as possible, as they provide essential and practical information on all aspects of academic life, such as doing research, citing, avoiding plagiarism, writing, and much more.

The schedule is posted here, on social media, and in the Library as soon as it is available.

Citation Handouts

The library has prepared the following citation handouts to help students cite their sources and avoid plagiarism. Each one provides examples of bibliography entries and in-text citations for various types of sources.

If you have any comments or questions regarding the handouts, or if you would like more information on citation styles, please contact the writing advisor or your program’s librarian.

Paper Formatting Handouts

The library has prepared handouts that summarize each citation style’s formatting guidelines: