A guide to academic support at Capella

If you’re interested in pursuing a degree online, you may wonder what kinds of resources and support would be available to you.

In a traditional brick-and-mortar university, you’d have faculty to visit, tutors to meet with, libraries bookshelves to browse, etc. How does an online university provide that academic support?

Capella University has numerous academic support services, and many are available 24/7, meaning you don’t have to work around a staff person’s office hours. Here are some examples of what Capella offers to students, along with some other useful resources.

Capella resources

Capella’s academic support covers everything from writing to advising to tutoring, including:

• Online campus: Capella’s version of a “student center,” this site includes everything you need to know to complete and manage your coursework.
• Writing center: This online resource provides a number of tools to develop and polish writing skills, especially in APA format. Students will find workshops and a writing studio with regular office hours to ask questions and receive guidance.
• Quantitative skills center: Students can get assistance in math, statistics, and other quantitative skills areas. Post questions to teaching assistants or take labs about different aspects of statistics, how to study them, and how to use them.
• Library: Capella’s online library is staffed by trained librarians to help with research for coursework, papers, and presentations.
  
• Turnitin: Linked to all Capella classrooms, Turnitin generates “originality reports” that analyze a piece of writing to determine sources and detect plagiarism. This can be helpful to ensure the integrity of any written work.
• Doctoral support advisors: Doctoral students have access to a team of advisors to help them through the program, including advising on the dissertation stage.
• Academic coaches/program advisors: Coaches and advisors are available to answer questions and provide support on everything from scheduling to academic challenges.
• FlexPath coaches and tutors: Coaches are the primary contact for Capella students in the self-paced online format, answering questions and helping create and adjust the academic plan. Tutors are subject matter experts and available to answer any course content-related questions for FlexPath students.
• Career center: The Capella University Career Center’s counselors, resources, and tools help students and graduates manage their careers at every stage.

External resources

• Evernote: This popular clipping service allows you to amass research you’ve accumulated online into a central holding spot. You can easily sync the information across multiple devices (depending on how many devices, there may be an annual fee involved). Once you’ve saved something to Evernote, the app can recommend related reading on similar topics.
• Grammarly: This subscription-based writing tool not only conducts spell and grammar checks but also provides context-optimized word choices and can be used virtually any time or any place you’re writing online.
• Mendeley: This free resource will help you properly cite your written works in whichever style guide you need, including APA style used at Capella, as well as correctly format text and bibliographies.
• Zotero: This free online tool allows you to collect, organize, cite, and share your research and resources.
• EndNote: This service, via Thomson Reuters, is a citation and resource management tool that helps you research, store, create bibliographies, and share your work. The site offers a free 30-day trial.

Learn more about Capella’s online academic resources and support services.