Online Writing Lab (OWL)
What is the OWL?
The Success Center Online Writing Lab provides access to writing tutors for Southwestern Illinois College students. The OWL offers a convenient alternative to face-to-face writing tutoring. Students can submit their paper for review or questions about their writing assignment.
If you have questions or do not receive a response, please email us at successcenters@swic.edu.
How to drop off your paper
1. Log into your eSTORM Student Center.
2. Click the Quick Links box from the Student Center Homepage and access the Success Center OWL from the left-side navigation bar.
3. The OWL is only for currently enrolled SWIC students and courses.
How It Works
– Tutors offer students feedback based on their questions and assignment details.
– Comments are posted in papers and available for students to print.
– Responses are returned to students via eSTORM, usually within two school days.
– Tutors do not respond to papers on weekends or during college breaks.
General Guidelines
– Papers must be five pages or less (based on a standard double-spaced format).
– Longer papers and complex research papers should be brought to a Success Center.
– The OWL does not retain a paper’s formatting; tutors are unable to address questions regarding the formatting of such elements as the reference page, citations, etc.
– Please spell-check papers before submitting them to the OWL.
– Students can submit the same paper up to three times if it is revised significantly between submissions.
– Please submit essays throughout the semester to avoid last-minute, multiple submissions.