Develop your Learning Skills
Do you want to increase your learning confidence or improve your writing skills? Wherever you are on your academic journey, we can help. The DCU Writing Centre provides advice and support on all aspects of academic writing, and our Learning Skills Advisors can help you develop the study skills you need to succeed at third level. Our services are available to all DCU students and are free of charge.
The DCU Writing Centre
The Writing Centre offers guidance with academic writing to all undergraduate and postgraduate students through individual appointments, workshops and online resources.
Our mission is to help all students become confident and competent writers at third level and beyond.
The Writing Centre is closed for the semester but will re-open for the summer in mid-May.
To book an appointment, select your preferred location and follow the instructions:
Glasnevin | St Patrick's | Online
You can meet with one of our Academic Writing Coaches, in person or online, to receive expert advice at any stage of the writing process: planning an assignment, writing a first draft, or revising and editing a document.
Appointments are booked online and are free of charge. Our Academic Writing Coaches are studying at PhD level and are trained and supervised by the Learning Skills Advisers.
How a Writing Centre appointment works:
- Appointments are 30 minutes long.
- In-person appointments are held in the O'Reilly and Cregan libraries.
- Online appointments are held via Zoom. You will receive the meeting link in your booking confirmation email.
- Before your appointment, please email your assignment brief or question and any work you've done so far to writingcentre@dcu.ie. If you are not working on an assignment but would like to discuss a particular aspect of academic writing, please let your tutor know by email.
- The Centre is not a proofreading or editing service, but rather works with students to strengthen their abilities as writers, and encourages them to become editors of their own work.
- We advise students to make no more than one appointment per week and a maximum of five per semester. This is to keep the limited number of appointments open to as many students as possible.
- Please note: support with citing and referencing is provided by the DCU Library.
Our workshops, open to all DCU students, can be booked centrally via My Events Hub. Just log in with your DCU credentials below to view all upcoming workshops and to register with one click.
Log in to My Events Hub
During the academic year we provide the following highly demanded sessions:
- Essentials of Academic Writing
- Seven Steps to Assignment Success
- How to Build an Argument - NEW!
- Writing Critically at University
- Reflective Writing
- Writing Literature Reviews
- Write Here, Write Now! - NEW!
We offer bespoke interactive courses, guides and video tutorials on all aspects of academic writing.
You can browse the full Writing Centre Toolkit on DEVELOP or select a topic below:
Essentials of Assignment Writing | Academic Language and Phrasing | Assignment types | Critical Thinking and Writing | Citing and referencing
Learning Skills Advisors
The Learning Skills team provides expert advice and support to help you develop your study skills and grow your learning confidence. Areas we can address include:
- Note-taking
- Effective reading strategies
- Time management
- Groupwork and presentations
- Exam preparation
You can book an individual appointment, in person or online, to discuss and explore any issues you might be encountering in your academic studies, or any skills you want to build or refine.
Appointments are booked online. Just select your preferred location:
You can also attend one of our many workshops, scheduled throughout the semester. Just log in with your DCU credentials below and filter by Academic Study Skills to view all our upcoming workshops and to register with one click.
Log in to My Events Hub
Popular topics include:
- Presenting with Confidence
- Note Taking and Effective Reading
- Active Learning Strategies
If workshop times and dates do not suit your schedule, you can access our online resources below.
We offer bespoke Academic Study Skills resources, available on DEVELOP. Select the topic you need below:
Critical Thinking and Writing | Exam Study Strategies | Groupwork | Notetaking and Effective Reading | Presentations | Writing Centre Toolkit
Write Here, Write Now!
Write Here, Write Now! offers a quiet space and focused writing time to work on any assignment you need to make progress on, no matter what stage of the writing process you are at.You can join us in person or virtually through Zoom. Just bring any assignment you need to work on and we’ll spend some time writing away in a quiet space with a community of writers to stay focused and motivated
Writing Centre staff will be on hand to provide expert advice where necessary.
Postgraduate Research Writing Group
The DCU Student Advice and Learning Skills Centre, in collaboration with the Graduate Studies Office, offers a six-week programme for research students to become more efficient, effective and confident in their writing.
Led and facilitated by an expert writing tutor, the writers in this group will examine the different stages of the writing process and receive input on how to tackle the various aspects of the writing process. Students will also receive individual writing support and feedback over the course of the programme to hone their writing skills.
The group runs every year in May-June.
The Graduate Studies Office will circulate information and registration details closer to the time.
Head Start Programme for Incoming Mature, Online, and Further Education Students
The Student Advice and Learning Skills team and the Mature Student Officer work collaboratively to provide an annual Head Start programme for incoming first-year mature students. This week-long online and in-person course is an opportunity for mature students to refresh their academic writing skills, meet other mature students, and get a head start on their university life before classes begin.