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Writing help

Writing Center

The Writing Center is a service of the English department to assist with writing and reading assignments in any university course. They also provide help for writing projects not connected to a class. You can make an appointment or walk-in during open hours. They also offer after hours assistance or via web cam for student using the Northern Virginia Center.

CommLab

CommLab is a program of the Communication department to provide assistance with oral presentations. You can make an appointment or walk-in during open hours.

Writing a thesis or dissertation

Virginia Tech requires theses or dissertations be submitted in an electronic format. Many file formats are accepted; the style and formatting of your document approved by the Graduate School and your graduate committee. Assistance is available for each step in the ETD process.

Avoiding plagiarism

Plagiarism is claiming someone else’s idea or writing as your own. It is a serious academic integrity violation—see the Undergraduate Honor System for more information. See our list of citation and style manuals for guidance of how to cite the resources used in your research assignments. Printed style manuals with definitive information and examples are available at the reference desks.

Copyright guidelines

Users of copyrighted materials in research projects, classroom instruction and published works should be aware of copyright issues. Fair use doctrine provides for use of copyrighted materials without permission in several cases.