Virtual Academic, Writing, Library, and Technology tutors (VAWLT)
VAWLT is offline until 2025. Check back with us in January for winter availability. Happy holidays!
The UMA VAWLT provides virtual support to UMS students by chat, email, and Zoom.
Use our Help Request Form to share a draft or ask a question or use our Appointment Sign Up calendar to reserve a live session. Help requests are processed within two business days. We are offline during administrative closures and holidays.
You can Zoom with us up to twice a week, and each session can be up to 60 minutes.
Email vawlt@maine.edu for additional help.
If you’d like to become a tutor, reach out to michelle.lisi@maine.edu.
Fall 24 Live Hours
Sept 3 – Dec 20
Chat Hours
Monday – Friday
10am – 4pm
Drop-In Zoom
Monday – Friday
12pm – 2pm
Sign-Up Appointments
Monday – Friday
10am – 12pm and 2pm – 4pm
Services
Getting started with writing and research can be a daunting step. The VAWLT can help you get organized and learn new strategies to keep your writing projects on track and on time.
Feedback by Zoom, email, and chat
We provide asynchronous and live feedback on your work. You can:
- chat live with a tutor during online hours.
- set up a phone or web conference for a face-to-face experience with a tutor who can view and comment upon your work while you are talking.
- share a draft and any related materials for an assignment for paragraph-by-paragraph commentary on your work.
What kind of feedback do we give?
We ask questions and comment upon content, format, and grammatical choices in your text, pinpointing those places in your writing where we can help you to:
- find your thesis, transition between your thoughts, and clarify the topic of each of your paragraphs.
- quote, introduce, and cite your sources in APA & MLA format.
- create grammatical constructions and well-punctuated sentences.
What kind of feedback don’t we give?
Our process is interactive and inductive: we ask lots of questions, and we prompt you to pursue your own ideas. We don’t provide a suggested topic if you’re not sure what to write about. We won’t change your language or correct punctuation and mechanics for you. We will try to get you to figure out what interests you, what you believe in, and what you want to know more about. We want you to take ownership of your writing process: we won’t forget about your voice.
Multiple Modalities for All Types of Learners
One-on-one tutoring services
Develop a partnership with one of our VAWLTers, or get feedback from multiple perspectives. When you work with our tutors, you can request who’s helping you, and you can let us know how we’re doing in supporting you.