School of Nursing Writing Tutor
Whether you are a confident writer needing to brush up on academic writing skills and APA or a hesitant writer wanting practice, guidance, and reassurance, Madeline Walker is able to assist you. There are many resources for you on this webpage or contact Madeline for assistance at sonwrite@uvic.ca
Madeline's services:
Please note that Madeline’s position is now half-time, so allow up to three business days for a response.
The UVic Writing Centre also offers online tutoring for distance students.
Two online elective courses
One-on-one writing clinic
Pushing through to the finish line
Student testimonial:
I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to take this writing course at the beginning of my graduate program. I now feel better prepared to take on my masters. This course has provided me with the resources and skills to produce quality writing (especially the basics of APA and writing organization). Madeline is a great mentor and a wonderful resource. Her constructive comments and feedback were very helpful to me. I would highly recommend this class. Thanks, Renee
Check out the Nursing Scholar blog by Madeline Walker and Robbyn Lanning
Student Resources
Great Writing Resources: Madeline’s Favourites
APA
Watch Madeline's presentation APA: an overview
Listen to Michelle St. Louis talking about Writing with APA Style Sixth Edition
Owl Purdue online writing lab: APA formatting and style guide
Academic reading and writing; APA
This blog on the APA website is a fascinating ongoing discussion of APA style issues and problems. If the APA manual isn't yielding the information you need about citation, referencing, or other style challenges, you can do a search for your problem on the blog. There may well be a discussion on the very question you are wrestling with.
Anthropomorphism
What is anthropomorphism? Try this quiz from BOLD and see how you score on identifying anthropomorphism, a no-no in APA style writing.
Annotated bibliography
How to write an annotated bibliography
Argument
Listen to Madeline's presentation Argument in Academic Writing
Thesis, argument, organization and conclusions
Template for argument: They say, I say
How to Structure a Persuasive Argument
Clarity and organization
Paragraphing, topic sentences, fixing common errors
Essay
Watch Madeline's presentation The Essay: A primer
Dartmouth College has excellent handouts on how to write an academic paper. They explain how to incorporate your own thoughts into a paper as analytical rather than personal writing.
Rachel Cayley, Senior Lecturer in the Office of English Language and Writing Support at the University of Toronto, offers many useful ideas about graduate level writing
Literature review
Watch Madeline's presentation How to write a literature review: the basics
Youtube from the TAMU writing centre on the literature review.
Methodology
Engaging the craftmanship of autoethnography
An autoethnography reading list
Punctuation and grammar
Watch Madeline's presentation Punctuation Matters!
Synthesis
Summary, synthesis, quotation and paraphrase
Watch Madeline's presentation on Performing synthesis in your research paper
Incorporating the words and ideas of others in your academic writing
How to paraphrase successfully and an explanation of “shared language”
Voice
Anthropomorthism, first person/third person, passive/active
Writing review and feedback
Conversations About Writing
Series of conversations between Madeline Walker and Laurie Waye, Director of the Writing Centre.
Listen to four conversations: feelings about writing; APA; clear writing, and making writing social
Conversation about perfectionism and writing
Writing tips for graduate students (with guest, Tusa Shea)
Conversation about the writing process: planning, writing, and revision
Instructor Resources
APA Expectations: A short essay by Madeline Walker
Helping Doctoral Students Write
designing better assignmentsA useful article on best writing practices for graduate students.
Great ideas on diagnosing and responding to student writing from Dartmouth College
University of Auburn has developed a series of videos on how to design good writing assignments
Peer Review
I use these guidelines in my classes to help students give appropriate feedback to their peers