Tutors - Philosophy

The Writing Centers provide tutoring for students enrolled in Writing Program classes. Tutoring sessions are scheduled for one eighty-minute class period per week for at least five weeks, and are available free of charge. Students are tutored in the full range of expository writing, from basic composition to the advanced research, business, and scientific writing courses. The Writing Centers offer morning, afternoon, and evening sessions to ensure access for University College and other working students.

During each tutoring session, students engage in a series of tasks related to their latest course assignment. While tutors shape these tasks and advise students in the midst of them, it is the students who read, write, and revise. Because tutoring happens at a regularly-scheduled time and place over the course of many weeks, tutor and student reinforce new writing strategies while they navigate the challenges of college-level composition. This process of engagement is called minimalist tutoring.

Minimalist tutoring strengthens reading and writing skills by asking students to practice under the supervision of a more experienced writer, who acts as a coach rather than an editor. Using this philosophy, tutoring provides better habits of writing to take into other classrooms and the larger world. The Writing Centers do not provide proofreading services to students. If you need help proofreading your work, you should ask a trusted friend who has a strong command of written English.

This method requires a highly-trained staff, and Writing Center tutors undergo a rigorous selection and training process overseen by Assistant Directors of the Writing Program. Tutors are drawn from a pool of applicants who may be advanced undergraduates, graduate-level Teaching Assistants, or teachers from diverse departments, including English, Comparative Literature, History, Philosophy, Political Science, and Women's Studies.

Once selected, tutors are schooled in the techniques of minimalist tutoring, augmented later by special instruction in areas such as English as a Second Language (ESL), grammar skills, remediation, and advanced research. In cases where more help is needed, students and tutors may consult the Writing Center Directors, who maintain an open-door policy throughout the course of the semester.