Tutoring

Writing tutors can help with brainstorming, organizing your paper, and strengthening your argument.

While each tutor has his or her own style, tutoring often follows this outline:

1. Discussion about the assignment and any questions or concerns about writing in general
2. Review of the paper: reading through, skimming, or summarizing
3. Identification of writing principles that could be strengthened in the student's paper
4. Revision of the paper done by the student, outside of the Writing Center

Tutoring lasts about 30 minutes. The tutor will focus on improving organization, analysis, logic, use of evidence, or other major aspects of writing.

Proofreading

Since the Writing Center emphasizes developing long-term writing skills rather than turning out edited papers, Writing Center tutors do not proofread. They can, however, give you tips on how to do it. If you have major concerns about your proofreading skills, you can make an appointment with the grammar tutor. He or she will not edit your paper, but instead will train you how to improve your grammar, usage, and mechanics.