The Writing Center
Tips For Your Tutoring Session
To get the most out of a tutoring session, here are some friendly suggestions for students to help them work most effectively with the writing tutors:
Be prepared to tell the tutors about your assignments and your instructor’s expectations. It especially helps if the tutors can see a written description from the instructor, or a syllabus for the course.
Set your own specific goals for your session. For example: do you want feedback on mechanics and grammar, content and organization, or do you want to talk a little about each of these issues?
- Try to be specific about what your problems are and where you think they are in your paper. If you have “grammar” problems, do you know what they are? Has your instructor mentioned specific things before to you? What other areas has your instructor encouraged you to improve upon in your other assignments? Can you find any of these problems and issues in this paper?
- Proofread your own work several times before you see a tutor. Even if you only circle areas or things you are not certain about, that’s an important first step you should take. This saves time for other concerns that may be identified during your session. The tutors can provide you with suggestions for proofreading strategies to help you improve this skill, but they will not identify and correct every error in a paper.
- Type your draft, unless it is an in-class essay or you are in a lower level ESL class. When tutors have to struggle with legibility, it distracts them from being able to focus on your concerns. There are several computer labs on campus that have word processing resources. Ask the tutors if you are not sure where they are.
- Plan ahead for tutoring sessions before your paper is due. Allow time after you work with us to make corrections and revisions.
Tell a Learning Center staff member about any concerns with the writing tutors, your learning needs, or the assignment. We are interested in talking to you and helping to meet your needs as much as possible.
