The Learning Commons: Writing and Speech: Overview

To meet the needs of students who don't have the time for a live tutoring session, the Volstate Learning Commons has provided an essay dropoff service where students can submit essays to an eLearn's Dropbox for feedback from a writing tutor in the Learning Commons. 

Although it is your responsibility to write, proofread, edit, and correct your paper, writing tutors can provide assistance and resources to help you improve your paper by commenting on areas of your essay or your writing skills that could be more effective.  If your instructor requires a copy of your writing tutor's feedback, it is your responsibility to send a copy to your instructor.

How to Use eLearn's Dropbox for Essay Review

NOTE: Tutor feedback is not provided immediately in real-time. See "Review Timeline" to see when you can anticipate feedback,

Submit your Essay

To use our Essay Review service, you must

1. Format your paper as a Microsoft Word document file (file extensions: doc or docx). Get help with converting a document at Dropbox: Converting to .docx for Submisson. 
2. Submit your paper and a copy of your assignment instructions through eLearn's Dropbox by logging in to eLearn here: eLearn, selecting the Essay Review and Writing Support resource located under "My Courses," and finally clicking on the Essay Review Dropbox link located at the top of the announcement page. This will take you to the dropbox where you will find complete instructions on using this service.

Review Timeline

Essay submissions are reviewed in the order they are received.

An essay submitted

• Monday through Thursday BEFORE 12:00 PM (noon) should be returned within 48 hours of submission.
• Friday through Sunday should be returned within 48 hours of Monday 12:00 PM (noon).

  CAUTION: Tutor review and return times are approximate. In many cases essays may be returned within 24 hours of submission, but please allow for 48-72 hours during busy parts of the semester.

Get Help

For technical assistance & troubleshooting, contact Vol State's IT Help Desk.
For non-technical questions or concerns, email Diana Hardin at diana.hardin@volstate.edu

All Vol State students have free access to the online tutoring service Tutor.com.

Tutor.com is available 24 hours a day and seven days a week. The tutoring service covers Math, Business, English, Writing, Science, Health Sciences, Computers, Foreign Language, and more.

The link to Tutor.com is in eLearn. You can click "Help" then Tutor.com to get there, or look for this under the class announcements.

Once you are in Tutor.com you can follow prompts to:

• drop off an essay,
• connect with any available tutor during an on-demand tutoring session,
• schedule an appointment with a specific tutor at least 48 hours in advance, or
• review and replay your past tutoring sessions. 

If you have problems or need help with Tutor.com, please contact Delois Reagan at 615-230-3681 (Monday – Friday from 8:00 am – 4:30 pm) or email Delois.Reagan@volstate.edu.