Online Resources & Support for Students & Instructors

Western Libraries has a plethora of teaching and learning resources available online 24/7, including a series of eLearning modules that guide learners through completing a research project, and easy-to-digest tutorials that support research and writing on subjects like: choosing a topic, searching, writing tips, and citations. 

Struggling with writer’s block? Not sure how to use Google Scholar with WWU? Confused about primary sources? All of these questions and more are covered! Want to get started on some real work towards your research assignment? Visit the Getting Started workshop, where you can choose a topic and develop an inquiry question. At the end of the online workshop, you can either save your work or send it to your instructor. 

And, if you want something more structured and in-depth, visit the Self-Paced Online Tutorials (SPOT). Each tutorial is designed to be interactive and keep you engaged. Whether you’re sniffing out a topic, fetching information, or chasing citations, SPOT’s got you covered. There is also a separate SPOT for STEM majors. 

Instructors can also add tutorial links directly into their Canvas course. Each lesson in the SPOT modules has its own unique URL making it easy to provide direct access, like with this lesson on Thesis Statements. Canvas quizzes that go with specific SPOT modules can also be imported, and the Instructor Toolkit has more info about how to add SPOT and the quizzes to Canvas.  

Looking for more resources? There’s also this page dedicated to Course Design Support where you can learn how to add databases and research guides to Canvas and find out more about teaching with Archives & Special Collections, writing instruction support, equitable assignment design, and more. 

If you have questions or comments about SPOT and the Library Tutorials, you can leave feedback on this form, or email the Libraries’ Learning Technologist.