Current undergraduate students

Think back to your first swimming lesson, or the first time you went to the pool. Did you jump in with both feet right away? If so, how did that go? Likely, you got in slowly, or if you decided to take the leap, hopefully someone caught you before you got into trouble. Now think of an Olympic swimmer like Katie Ledecky or Penny Oleksiak. How do they get in the water at the start of a race? When the buzzer goes off, there’s no time to use the ladder.

A thesaurus groups together words that are similar in meaning. It exists for those tip-of-the-tongue moments when the right word seems just out of reach: “Gah! I need another word for something that’s pretentious … to be pretentious, to put on airs … Ah! An affectation!”

Roses are red.
Violet's are blue.
This poem trope's old.
Let's try something new.

Valentine’s Day. A holiday known for being either charming or corny, depending on who you ask. 

Take a minute and think back to when you were a little kid. Did you have a favourite book? Was there one story that your parents had memorized because you asked for it to be read so often? These short stories for tiny people might appear simple and easy to write; however, I would argue they take a great deal of skill to create. The authors breathe life into colourful characters of all shapes and sizes, and for that, they deserve some credit and applause.

I was not an athletic child. Never one to break out a ball on the playground, never one to try out for teams or clubs.

When was the last time you sat down with a pen and paper, and just wrote something? I’m talking about you and your own creativity, no prompt whatsoever. I can guess what you’re thinking. University is busy and finding time is hard. Why use a pen and paper when everything is handed in electronically? Why would someone use writing as a break from more writing? These are valid thoughts, but before you tune out, let me tell you about my notebook, and why pen and paper have become my best friends over the past few years.

Over the past few years, I have a turned into a monster. What kind of monster you may ask? A monster that starts books and doesn’t end up finishing them.

*distant horrified gasps*

Oh yes, a bookworm’s worst nightmare!

Introducing the Winter 2019 undergraduate Peer Tutors:

It’s December! You know what that means right? The holiday season is right around the corner. From Hanukah to Kwanzaa December is a time for family get-togethers and lots of food. So in the spirit of the holiday season, I decided to look up holiday-themed books (and by holiday-themed, I mean books that have a certain holiday as a key part of the plot) and was very disappointed with what I found. Holiday-themed books appear to be synonymous with Christmas books.

At the drop-ins, I often have people coming who are in the beginning of the writing process. They have often run into issues when writing, such as running out of ideas, unclear writing, or weak arguments. Their mistake? They simply overlooked one important part of the writing process: planning.

As any writer knows, you need to plan out what you’re writing in order for it to be effective. Planning out your writing allows you to develop stronger arguments and be clearer in presenting them – both of which are essential to writing a successful university-level assignment.