Expert Academic Support for university students


Personalised, supportive coaching and expert feedback for university students who need help with written assignments. We'll show you what is needed to transform your writing and secure the top grades at university.

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Helping you achieve your best at university


Starlight was founded to support university students to achieve their full potential in written assignments. With experience coaching hundreds of undergraduate and postgraduate students across all subjects, we understand the challenges faced along the way, and how to overcome them.

Whether you struggle with academic English, face difficulty getting organised, lack confidence in your ability, or want to ensure you’re hitting the top marks, we’ll support you in achieving your goals and provide you with strategies and tools that will transform your academic writing.

Having supported university students with a wide range of courses and topics, we are highly skilled at identifying the missing pieces of a strong essay or dissertation. We have helped hundreds of students make drastic improvements to their marks, achieve First Class Honours degrees, and achieve a level of written work that went beyond their expectations.

Trained and experienced at supporting Neurodivergence and English as an Additional Language

Our Services


All our services take place online, and are bookable by the hour

One-to-one tutorial (1hr)

Book tutorials as and when you need.

1 hour online session with an Academic Support Tutor guided by your individual needs. Sessions take place through Google Meets video call at a time suitable for you.

Ideal for getting started, for a one-off session, help with a chapter or smaller essay.

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Critical Feedback and Proofreading

Send us your draft, we’ll provide you feedback.

Written feedback and proofreading by an Academic Support Tutor (no video call required).

This service is perfect if you’ve got a completed draft or section of an assignment, and are seeking feedback for improvement.

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Dissertation Journey Packages (5-10hrs)

Packages of bookable Tutor time to cover tutorials and written feedback. You will be supported and coached towards achieving the best possible mark throughout your dissertation journey.

Our packages come in blocks of 5, 7, or 10 hours, perfect for those seeking longer-term support.

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  • "I wish I had discovered her 2 years ago at the start of my studies, would have made a huge difference."

    —Nikita, BSc Adult Nursing

  • "Every minute of a lesson with Vanessa is worth it."

    —Natalia, BA English Language

  • "Vanessa is a very helpful Tutor who quickly established a good rapport with my Daughter."

    —Parent of Dominique, BA Media Production

  • "Amazing listener, takes her time and very thorough, thank you!"

    —Mars, BSc Human Nutrition

  • "Her support was invaluable, and I genuinely don’t think I would have achieved the marks I did without her guidance."

    —Elizabeth, PgDip Secondary Education

  • "She made a real effort to understand my ideas, asking insightful questions that strengthened the foundation of my work."

    —Jamal, MA TESOL

  • "She offers thoughtful ideas and practical tips on how best to approach research. I’ve come away feeling much more confident and supported."

    —Heather, Foundation Year in Health & Social Care

  • "Would definitely recommend to anyone struggling or needing guidance with dissertation writing."

    —Millie, BA Fashion

  • "Vanessa is absolutely amazing! She’s helpful, patient and has given me a lot of confidence with my work."

    —Ivy, MA Film and Television Production

  • "I instantly felt at ease and was able to get so much more done than I thought I was capable of."

    —Rebecca, BSc Psychology and Counselling

  • "I had less than a week left and needed some extra help. Within ten minutes of my first lesson I felt so much better about it."

    —Rebecca, BA Fine Art and Professional Practice

  • "I feel very lucky to have found Vanessa in the essay writing journey."

    —Ieva, MSc Adult Nursing

  • "She quickly identified the key point I needed to improve, and from there helped me unlock the entire presentation."

    —Antonella, Conference Paper student

  • We’ll remove the fear of the blank page and help you get started by creating a structured plan for your assignment. We’ll help you plot and develop the key concepts and themes, and place your ideas where they flow best.

  • We’ll support you in finding strong, appropriate research and guide you through the literature searching process. We’ll make sure you have credible, peer-reviewed literature to work with, as well as supportive grey literature that demonstrates a strong breadth of research.

  • We’ll make sure your ideas are communicated in a clear and concise way, and that your arguments are supported by research. We’ll ensure your essay has a logical order thats shows development in your thinking.

  • We understand that choosing the right words can be difficult for academic writing, especially for those with English as an additional language, or those not used to writing assignments. We’ll make sure your writing reads with clear use of academic English, and suggest appropriate adjustments where needed.

  • We offer different ways to support you, including online tutorials or written feedback on drafts. You are welcome to use both these services, or choose one. Our Dissertation Journey Packages also allow the flexibility of combining the two.

Why students choose Starlight

  • We know that universities can use complicated language that is hard to interpret. We’ll help you make sense of academic terminology in simple terms, and ensure that you understand your assignment brief and marking criteria.

  • We’ll show you how to analyse and synthesise, and how these two terms differ. We’ll help you to develop your critical thinking skills, and support you in expanding ideas and encourage your originality.

  • We’ll make sure your work achieves the requirements of your assessment criteria, and help your work move into the higher grades. We’ll identify any areas that may need developing and provide suggestions and examples to support you.

  • Our feedback is practical and specific so that you know precisely what is missing. We won’t just tell you something is vague or needs development, we’ll suggest how to improve it, with examples to inspire your thinking.

  • We won’t leave you alone outside of lesson time. Our tutors are there to confirm you’re on the right track and answer those little questions that pop up during the writing process.

Get in touch.

Let us know the details of your next assignment, and the kind of support you need.

We’ll get back to you to arrange a free call.