What do tutorials offer?

A one-to-one tutorial offers you 50 minutes of personal attention.  We want you to achieve the best grades possible.  In a tutorial, we focus on a very specific skill on which you need support in your personal academic work.   You can discuss your need with the tutor and work out a strategy together on how you can improve.  Our aim is to help you to take charge of your own learning in this respect.   Just a few examples of needs which students ask us about include:

• Forming a tightly reasoned argument
• Structuring an essay or spoken presentation
• Reading effectively
• Incorporating source material into written work
• Finding strategic ways of improving vocabulary, grammar, punctuation or style
• Time management and revision skills
• Tackling exam questions
• Fine tuning to turn an already good essay into a first
• Unpacking and applying tutor feedback - you know what the problem is, but not how to address it
• Voice work and spoken delivery (including pronunciation)

N.B.   we do not undertake proof-reading; that is, we do not simply read through your work for grammar and spelling errors and then hand it back to you without explanation; however, we are very happy to point out which errors are recurrent, where and why you are making them, so  that in future, you can put them right yourself. 

Who is eligible?

Tutorials are available to any Queen Mary student at any level – Foundation, Undergraduate and Postgraduate – of any discipline.  Both home and international students can benefit from them.

Where and when do they take place?

Tutorials are given in Learning Development Room 4, West Reading Room,  on the first floor of the Mile End Library between Monday and Friday of each week.   The times we have available  appear on a dropdown menu on the booking form.  If the time slot you want is not there, it is probably because it has already been booked.  Two tutorials a week are also available in Whitechapel, but by special appointment through e-mailing requests to <academicstudytutorials@qmul.ac.uk>. 

Generally, tutorials in the Mile End Library are offered at the times and with the tutors listed below, although sometimes there might be a slight variation:

How do I book a one-to-one tutorial?

There are three steps to follow:

1. Complete the booking form, selecting a time and date appropriate. (If you genuinely cannot come at one of the times because of departmental commitments, please email academicstudytutorials@qmul.ac.uk stating your availability). There is a link from the booking form to a fuller registration form.
2. Complete the registration form, giving us fuller details, if you are a new student with us.  (There is no need to do this again if you have been to see us already this academic year).
3. Print out your automated confirmation e-mail and bring it with you to the tutorial.  This will tell you the venue, how to cancel or change the date and any special instructions.

Notes:

• You cannot usually book for more than two weeks ahead.
• You can only book one tutorial at a time.  After your first tutorial, you and your academic study skills tutor can decide together whether another one will be of benefit to you.