CAC Resources for Instructors

The Centre for Academic Communication (the CAC) supports instructors both indirectly and directly.

We support instructors indirectly in three ways.

1. We support undergraduate and graduate students in the development of their academic communication skills, including writing, reading academic texts, and presenting.

  • We provideface-to-face and online tutoring in academic communication skills.
  • We also coach students to understand the rules around plagiarism and other issues related to academic integrity.

Because our mandate is to coach the learner rather than improve the piece they are working on, please note that we are unable to “fix” students’ errors. We teach the student how to find and correct the errors themselves. This is a slow path to improvement, but it leads to lifelong writing, reading, listening, and speaking skills.

2. The CAC team (Nancy, the Manager, Madeline, the Coordinator and Writing Specialist, along with Kaveh and Gillian, the EAL Specialists) are happy to come to your class to introduce the CAC to your students and give a brief talk about how to use the service well. To arrange a class visit, please contact .

3. The CAC team may be able to provide in-class tailored workshops. For more information. Please contact for more information and to discuss your ideas.

Sample topics Intended audience
Scientific Writing
  • Students who are taking science courses for the first time
  • Graduate students who want to polish their scientific writing skills
The Basics of Academic Writing and Research
  • New undergraduate students
  • New graduate students returning from the workforce
  • Students new to the Canadian university environment
Tips for Improving Your Academic Writing
  • New undergraduate students
  • Students whose first language is not English
  • Students who want to improve the quality and accuracy of their writing
How to Avoid Accidental Plagiarism
  • Students who want to know more about paraphrasing and quoting, and who want to know how to accurately incorporate the ideas of others into their work

Overview of the CAC to share with your students

Please feel free to share this PowerPoint with your students in class or in CourseSpaces. Our research shows that the number one reason why students attend the CAC is because their instructor suggested it.

CAC Services

Do you have a student who needs more help? Each semester we accept a limited number of students into our Learning Plan program. Find out more by contacting .