Innis Writing Centre
Knowing how to write well is one of the most important life skills you can possess. Students who are able to write clearly and effectively operate at a tremendous advantage in both their university courses and the job market.
The Innis Writing Centre can help you to improve your writing and editing skills, with free one-to-one instruction from experienced, supportive instructors.
What can the Writing Centre do for me?
- We provide private, one-to-one instruction in 50-minute appointments, focussed on your specific writing needs.
- We show you what you do well, and where you can improve.
- We help you understand, plan, and organize an assignment even before you put fingers to keyboard. Then we can help you write, revise, and edit.
- We offer guidance on writing an admission letter or statement (book up to two appointments per year) to a graduate or professional school/program.
- You'll leave your appointment feeling more confident about your writing and critical thinking skills. You’ll be ready to tackle your assignments knowing that you now have the tools to succeed.
Who is eligible to use the Writing Centre?
- All Innis College students
- Non-Innis College students who are taking a course(s) in any academic program at Innis College (e.g., Cinema Studies, Urban Studies, Writing & Rhetoric, or the Innis One Program) can use the Innis Writing Centre for assignments specifically in those courses, which include any CIN-, INI-, URB-, WRR- or JIX- course or JWE206H.
What happens during an appointment?
- Each appointment is 50 minutes long, and you’ll be working one-to-one with an experienced instructor.
- Generally, students bring a course assignment (and the assignment description) that they’re working on; you can come in at any stage in the process of the assignment, even if you’ve not yet written a draft.
- You’ll get the most from your sessions if you come back regularly to work on a sequence of skills in a variety of assignments.
- One important thing to know is that this is NOT an editing service. The Writing Centre is a teaching service in which we use your own work as teaching material. We can’t teach you everything at once, so if you want to learn as much as possible, you should make use of the service whenever you can.
What should I bring to my appointment?
We’re here to help you learn whatever you need to improve the writing in your assignments. Here’s what you need to know:
- The booking system will give you instructions on how to provide both the assignment sheet/description (if you have one) and the draft you are working on with your instructor.
- Your assignment can be in any state: an outline, notes, partial draft, full draft, etc. You can also share course readings for help in how to connect them to your assignment.
- If you are a first-year student, you are encouraged to share an essay you wrote in high school. A writing instructor will talk to you about the expectations of university-level writing, and they will identify both the strengths and weaknesses of your prose.
- Make sure you give yourself enough lead time to revise your draft and to incorporate what you have learned in your writing centre sessions.
How can Writing Centre instructors know how to help me with the content of my paper? What if I need help with ideas more than writing?
It’s actually an advantage to have to explain ideas clearly to someone who is not an expert in your field of study. Our Writing Centre instructors are all generalists with many years’ experience teaching different forms of writing and working with undergraduates on assignments in all possible fields.
Writing instructors can help you brainstorm and generate further questions about your subject. They can also point out places in a draft where something seems to be missing, whether it is background information, evidence, or a logical step in an argument.
What if I'm getting good grades? Can the Writing Centre still help me?
Absolutely. We help students of all levels. We’ll adjust the level of instruction upward as you progress and as you undertake more advanced assignments. Even if you often get an A on assignments, you may find it helpful to consult us during the planning and writing process and get feedback on finished drafts. Or you may simply wish to learn a little more about finer points of style.
Our Writing Centre team
All our instructors are experienced writers, editors, and teachers. They’re passionate about helping students to become better communicators. You’ll be assigned one of the following based on schedules and availability.
Cynthia is the director of the Innis Writing Centre. She also teaches in Innis’s Writing & Rhetoric Program (W&R), for which she was director from its launch in 2003 until 2016.
Cynthia has developed courses on a range of subjects for W&R, including rhetorical analysis, writing for the professional workplace, ekphrasis, essay writing, and foundations of written discourse. Her curriculum development reflects her interest in visual rhetoric, fine art, and the decorative arts. Cynthia has brought to the Writing Centre and the Writing & Rhetoric Program extensive experience as a writing instructor in a wide array of settings, including colleges, universities, and the professional workplace. In 2002, she was awarded the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal for her work as a writing consultant in the office of Ontario’s Lieutenant Governor (The Honourable Hilary Weston). Publications include refereed articles on Canadian poetry in journals such as Canadian Literature and Journal of Canadian Studies; essays and shorter entries in reference texts such as the Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature, Blackwell’s Companion to Twentieth-Century Poetry, and the Encyclopedia of Literature in Canada; and numerous reviews in scholarly journals.
Over the last two decades, Cynthia served in positions of increasing responsibility at the University of Toronto’s Faculty Association (UTFA). From 2012 to 2015, she was UTFA’s chief negotiator in two sets of mediated talks with university administration that saw landmark policy changes — including professorial title and three ranks — for the teaching stream. Cynthia was UTFA’s vice-president – grievances for seven years before she was twice elected UTFA president (two terms, 2016-20). She was one of the architects and founders of the University Pension Plan (UPP), launched on July 1, 2021. Cynthia was recognized for this achievement in Ontario’s postsecondary sector with an OCUFA Service Award, along with UPP colleagues from the University of Guelph and Queen’s University. Cynthia served as the last chair of the University of Toronto Pension Plan, before it transitioned to the UPP in 2021.
Jessica received her BA in English studies and French from the University of Nottingham, her MA in comparative literature from University College London, and her PhD in comparative literature from the University of Toronto. During the 2022/23 academic year, she was the inaugural Northrop Frye Postdoctoral Fellow at the Centre for Comparative Literature. At U of T, she has taught a diverse range of subjects including writing, literature, critical theory, and French.
Jessica has published in academic journals such as Comparative Literature Studies, as well as in para-academic venues such as The White Review. Prior to commencing her PhD studies, she worked in various publishing and editorial capacities as a content writer, editor, and proof-reader. In addition to working at Innis College, she also teaches in the Literature and Critical Theory program at Victoria College.
Laz holds a BA in philosophy and English literature from McGill University and an MA in philosophy from the University of Toronto. Prior to joining the Innis College Writing Centre in 2016, he worked as a copy editor for a variety of book and magazine publishers in Toronto. Laz also teaches at the University College Writing Centre and at Seneca College.
Cellan holds a master’s degree in second language education from OISE, U of T, and a BA in English literature from York University. She has taught writing and grammar courses to international graduate students at U of T’s Graduate Centre for Academic Communication as well as to newcomer professionals at U of T’s School of Continuing Studies. Cellan also works as a freelance writer and editor. She has written website content, educational and settlement materials, and funding proposals, and currently edits academic work by international academics for publication in English-language journals. Cellan has been the recipient of numerous arts grants for her poetry, which has been published widely in Canadian journals including Event, Grain, Prism International, The Malahat Review, and The Fiddlehead. Cellan has been working at the Innis College Writing Centre since 2012.
Jaclyn is an educator, poet, medievalist, and long-time writing instructor and learning strategist. She received her MA in creative writing and English literature from the City College of New York, and an MA and doctorate in medieval studies and Jewish studies from the Centre for Medieval Studies and the Centre for Jewish Studies, University of Toronto. Her scholarly interests are in language, literature, translation, and the written word. The author of a poetry collection, To Suture What Frays (Kelsay, 2017), and three poetry chapbooks, most recently the corpus undone in the blizzard (Espresso, 2019), Jaclyn has also been published in numerous anthologies and literary journals. Jaclyn is the recipient of a New York Times Fellowship for Creative Writing, and the Alice M. Sellers Award from the Academy of American Poets.
Vikki received her PhD in English from the University of Toronto in 2004. She is currently a lecturer in U of T’s Department of English, where she specializes in Canadian literature. Since 2009, she has also taught courses on academic writing and analytical reasoning for the Writing & Rhetoric Program at Innis College. Vikki furthered her experience as a writing instructor by teaching composition courses in the Department of English, both Effective Writing and Critical Writing about Narrative. She has published peer-reviewed scholarly essays on Canadian and American literature. In 2013, she was the recipient of the Arts & Science Student Union’s Ranjini (Rini) Ghosh Excellence in Teaching Award.
Rebecca received her BA in English literature from Western University and an MA from Queen’s University. She has worked as an editor for many years, specializing in fiction, literary nonfiction, textbooks, and scholarly writing. In addition to instructing at the Innis and University College writing centres, Becky teaches editing in Innis’s Writing & Rhetoric Program and Toronto Metropolitan University’s publishing program, where she enjoys helping students to improve their language skills.
Supipi is a fiction writer. She received her BSc in biology from Portland State University, her MFA in creative writing from Columbia University, and her MA in English from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Supipi has worked in an eclectic mix of industries, including healthcare, retail, and education. She has taught English and writing in the US, Sri Lanka, and Canada, and is excited to work with the students at Innis College.
Make an appointment
The Innis Writing Centre is open for in-person and online appointments. All appointments are made through this booking system.
Please use Chrome to book your appointment. If the link does not work, then try clearing your cache (browsing data) in Chrome.
You may book up to one appointment per week — and up to three in advance. Additional appointments are possible through the drop-in online booking feature.
You may work on the same paper over more than one appointment. Instructors retain the right to limit the number of appointments you have on a given assignment.
Contact us
Have a question about what the writing centre can offer you? Send us an email.
Writing Centre hours
Fall-term appointments at the Innis Writing Centre begin September 16. You may book online or in-person appointments.
We also offer a limited number of Saturday afternoon appointments.
The Writing Centre offers limited appointments at the start of each semester, then opens daily starting in October, and February during the fall/winter sessions. We are also open in the spring and summer.
Appointment Cancellation / Missed Appointment Policy
If you have to cancel, please do so at least one day (24 hours) before your appointment through the online booking system.
Sessions are in high demand; often, we have a waiting list. If you miss two appointments (without cancelling), you’ll be barred from making further appointments for the remainder of the academic term.
More helpful writing resources
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From “Essay Writing From Start to Finish” to “Exam Prep Essentials,” U of T’s Writing Plus Workshops and research and writing seminars offer a series of academic skills workshops open to any U of T student. Take one, or take them all—they’re free and there’s no need to pre-register.
Visit Writing at U of T for a complete primer on writing
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English Language Development (ELD) at U of T Scarborough has numerous useful resources, including an Academic English Health Check to help you identify your strengths and weaknesses in speaking and writing English. You’ll also find workshops and other interactive resources to practice your English-language skills.