How Tutoring Works

Need a Sign Language Interpreter

Book an appointment with a tutor or an English Language Learning Specialist
Please visit Accessibility Services webpage and then email ASinterpreters@douglascollege.ca for booking a Sign Language Interpreter (preferably 48 hours in advance)
Share the booking information with your interpreter:
- For an on-campus appointment: please share the time and location of the appointment
- For a Zoom tutoring appointment: please share the time and the Zoom link of the appointment

The Learning Centre supports Douglas College students who enroll in accredited courses.

Douglas College students in ENGU 0100 and 0200 level courses are encouraged to reach out to their instructors.

The Learning Centre is committed to being an active advocate against racism in our communities towards Black, Indigenous, Asian and other racialized groups.

“CWCA Statement of Commitment to Antiracism”

The Learning Centre is a multilingual centre. Though English is the primary language of instruction at the college and the Learning Centre, being able to offer our services and resources in multiple languages is conducive to our goal of helping students learn and become better learners.

Tutoring: Languages available for tutoring sessions are listed in the tutor's bio when booking an appointment at douglas.mywconline.com.

Resources: The Learning Centre website as well as many of our resources can be translated using the Language Selector at the top right of this site.

Book an Appointment

Peer tutors can help with study skills, understanding course-specific content, and writing assignments for all Douglas College courses. Sessions are 25 minutes or 55 minutes and can take place at the Coquitlam campus, the New West campus, or online via Zoom. You can book your session in advance using the “Book an Appointment” link above. Best of all, you don’t need to pay anything when you book a session: it’s already included in your student fees!

Content Tutoring

Content peer tutors help with understanding course-specific concepts while emphasizing study skills and self-reliant learning. During your tutoring appointment, your peer tutor will

Help you evaluate and understand assignment instructions
Guide you to find resources for and answers to questions about your assignment
Suggest techniques for improving your academic and study skills

The tutor schedule can be filtered by course so that you can see which tutors are familiar with the content for your specific course. If you can’t find your course, choose one of the “other courses” options from the drop-down to find a tutor with experience in similar subjects. They won’t be familiar with all of your course content, but can still help with the fundamentals of the subject and support you in finding the information that you need.

Writing Tutoring

Peer tutors help with written assignments for all Douglas College courses at any stage of the writing process. In your tutoring session, your peer tutor will

Help you evaluate and understand assignment instructions
Discuss your questions about your writing
Review writing techniques, such as thesis development, organization and use of topic sentences
Suggest methods for improving your reading practices and writing
Identify error patterns in your writing and help you improve your editing skills

If you would prefer to have somebody read your work and provide written feedback, we offer that too! Learn about our submit-a-draft tutoring here.

Academic Integrity and Plagiarism

Book a tutoring session to review your understanding and skills for avoiding plagiarism. Choose the following appointments from the drop-down menu when making an appointment.

Avoiding Plagiarism

To learn how to paraphrase and quote effectively, without plagiarizing.
In this appointment, you’ll focus on developing your paraphrasing and ability to use sources as evidence in your writing assignments. The tutor will introduce you to Douglas College Learning Centre resources available.
If you have a writing assignment you are currently working on where you are integrating sources as evidence, please bring it to this session. A graded assignment will also work to review concepts with the tutor.

Using Sources and Citations

To learn how to access and follow guides and manuals in order to use APA, MLA and other citation styles to format your writing assignments, as well as how to connect with a librarian for support with citation formatting.
In this appointment, you’ll learn how to find the formatting and style rules needed for your assignments, as well as what aspects of the style and formatting are important in most college assignments. The tutor will introduce you to resources available, as well as help you come up with a plan to keep learning the skills needed.
When booking your appointment, choose the citation style you want to learn about to ensure that you meet with a tutor who is familiar with that particular set of formatting and style rules.

Drop-in Tutoring Service Outside of the Learning Centre

A Peer Tutor from the Learning Centre will be available for drop-in tutoring.

Indigenous Student Services - Every Wednesday 12:30 pm to 2:00 pm @S4830

Drop-in Labs

Several other groups on campus offer learning support for students outside of class time. Usually this support is provided with a drop-in centre, which allows you to get help very quickly when the centre is open. You can visit their webpages for more information:

Geography Lab - Learn from a lab technician, get hands-on with atlases, rocks and minerals, or jump on a computer to do research.
Math Lab - Get help from lab facilitators at both campuses Monday-Friday.
Psychology Lab - Meet with a lab technician, get tips on writing term papers and course assignments, master APA style and more.

The Learning Centre web pages and handouts produced by the Learning Centre are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License unless indicated otherwise on the page or document.