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TEN PRINCIPLES FOR TUTORS*

1. Our goal is to help writers help themselves. The paper they bring in--or the notes or the ideas for a particular writing project--is the focus only as that focus helps the writer develop independence and confidence in her writing process. A better paper does not necessarily mean a stronger writer. Your job is not to produce better papers; instead, you are to help produce better writers (see Stephen North, "The Idea of a Writing Center").

2. We cannot address every issue or problem in a given essay. In each tutorial session, we must help writers set priorities based upon where they are in the writing process. Setting these priorities will reflect what we value in writing as well as what we know about the contextual demands of the particular writer's assignment, audience, purpose, and academic discipline.

3. All writers work differently, following different habits of mind and different ways of inventing, drafting, and revising prose. Therefore, we need to assess every writer and each piece of writing with an eye toward helping writers discover habits and strategies that will work best for them. This assessment means looking beyond the writers' texts and asking them about their assignments, purposes, and current struggles with writing.

4. The tutorial session is most successful when the writer discovers a way to improve the essay. The tutor's role is to question, to respond, to offer choices, and to encourage--not to evaluate nor to prescribe solutions ("Get rid of the second paragraph and write a stronger conclusion"). We are neither their teachers nor their editors. We are their coaches in self-discovery and self-definition of themselves as writers.

5. Our most dangerous occupational hazard is rewriting other people's papers for them. There is always a fine line between fair collaboration and unfair influence; when you find yourself imposing your ideas on someone else's paper, you've gone too far. Keep the keyboard and mouse or pen in the writer's hands--not yours.

6. When working in the Writing Center, our particular positions as tutors prohibit negative comments about assignments or about any teacher comments that appear on a paper. Do not evaluate or embarrass the student or second-guess the teacher. NEVER talk about grades, expect that they pertain to the particular writing concerns of the student. That is, don't tell a writer a paper should get a good great. It may not, even if it seems quite strong. You get the picture.

7. Our greatest opportunity to help writers, whether they come to us with questions about dashes in a sentence or drafts of an essay, is in providing another voice of response to their writing, a voice of honest reaction first to their ideas and thoughts, then to their structure and organization, and finally to their prose style and sentences. Always read for meaning first.

8. We teach writing as a process while keeping the product in mind. Our goal, however, is not to produce a perfect text by micromanaging and commenting; instead, it is to intervene in the process with intelligence and compassion, and in so doing help writers better understand their own processes and the skills needed to perfect their own writing products.

9. We readily admit when we do not know the answer to someone's question, but pride ourselves on the ability to find answers in handbooks, dictionaries, and from other writers. We are glad to model this search for the writers we are helping.

10. Any writing that represents the Writing Center--handouts, correspondence, email to our writers, and so on--should be models for good prose. For example, correspondence with professors must be well written, precise, complete, and legible.

TEN PRINCIPLES FOR ONLINE TUTORS*

1. Individual texts are teaching opportunities for you and learning opportunities for the writer. In your comments, provide the writer with strategies/explanations that might be extended beyond this particular paper (e.g., explaining a useful hierarchy for revision, encouraging a vocabulary for self-assessment, etc.)

2. While we begin with a writer's concerns, we have to set priorities based on what we value and know about writing as well. Do not feel honor-bound to answer only the questions writers pose; rather, offer reasons for re-focusing their attention by explaining what we know about successful revision practices. When applicable, show how application to those ideas will help address both the writer's concerns and the issue you have raised.

3. We are not experts in all forms of writing but can help others learn to assess the norms of others contexts and audiences. Whenever possible, respond using the context offered in their responses to our initial questions. If not enough contextual information is available, offer strategies for assessing the context better (e.g., audience-analysis, seeking out the professor, or offering a face-to-face or "real time" appointment). If you make suggestions, explain the assumptions behind your comments and encourage the writer to re-evaluate the suggestions according to his/her own context. If possible, try to offer two or more suggestions or ways to proceed for a particular issue.

4. Although we can't infer process form a text, we seek to remind writers that intervening into process might be the best way to deal with a text at hand. Whenever appropriate, offer suggestions about successful processes (e.g., ways to "re-see" the paper, invention strategies for development, etc.) rather than only text-based comments. Or suggest a "real time" appointment (face-to-face) to discuss the process concerns that the paper seems to elicit.

5. Our goal is not prescribe solutions but to help writers see writing as a process of making choices based on their rhetorical situations. Do not offer a single suggestion, but offer options based on possible interpretations of the writer's intention (e.g., "If you are seeking to do X, then Y. On the other hand, if you are seeking to do A, then B"). Or as, questions and pose options depending on the possible answers.

6. See number 6 above.

7. See number 7 above

8. See number 8 above.

9. Ownership of the text and decisions about process remain the writer's. Your comment is an attempt to intervene into a process, not prescribe solutions for a given text. Remind writers that your comments constitute "advice" that only they can judge whether to enact or not.  

10. Make use of the many resources available to writers--both in our own resources and many spaces beyond us. Whenever relevant, suggest resources for further work (linking to external resources) as support for your explanations or options when you do not know the answer to a question.

THE "RULE-BENDING" PRINCIPLE**

The philosophical approach of the Writing Center has always been based on a student-centered model of dialogue. This approach assumes the students can do the work; they can answer their own questions, solve their own problems, learn through self-discovery. Principles of good writing are developed from the students rather than given to them.

However, with some students and some types of writing, this basic approach needs to be altered at times to be more effective in a tutoring setting. By bending the rules at the right moments and not making it a habit, you can preserve the central teaching philosophy.

TIPS FOR SUCCESSFUL WRITING CENTER TUTORIAL SESSIONS***

Some Essential Dos--

• Make sure you spend the first part of the session getting to know the student a little, filling out the first portion of the first portion of the WC Visit form in response to what he or she came into the WC to address. Use the student's name, and be sure to introduce yourself.

• Ask students what type of help they need when they come in. Often they will respond that they want help with "the whole thing" or ask you to just "look it over and see what you think." We will work together to develop and share strategies that help students articulate with more detail why they are in the Writing Center.

• Ask for a copy of the assignment. If the student doesn't have a handout from the instructor, have the student share something about her understanding of the writing assignment and the major requirements.

• Ask her about how she's feeling about her work with this assignment in particular and with the class itself in more general terms before moving on. That may help you establish a more appropriate tutorial agenda, and it may also give you a little time to establish rapport with a more resistant or anxious student.

• Ask her to talk a little about her plans thus far. Give her a chance to talk through her paper a bit before you begin. That way you know where she is going, you know what the relationship is between what she has written and what she was assigned, you get a better understanding of what kinds of things may be planned but not actually happening in the text, and--probably most importantly--you give her a chance to collaborate with someone by allowing her to "talk through" her paper. Talking through this without feeling tied to the text in front of you is very useful to both the writer and the txt because revision seems much more possible in cases like these. Sometimes, you may even wish to/need to turn the paper over and move it away from the writer before she/he can really start to talk about it.

• Help writers to establish their priorities. Find out what their biggest concern is and then guide them in how to improve it via discussion. Accommodate the writer's concerns first before any that you notice. Very often, you can address their concern by addressing yours as well. For example, if their concern is that the paper doesn't "flow," your observation that they aren't quite doing what the a assignment calls for can become a conduit through which to address the flow issue.

• Focus on the larger issues. If a student wants to talk about comma splices, you might discuss those briefly then explore global issues like focus, development, and other issues. Recall that many errors in punctuation and usage clear up when a writer has better control over larger issues. You may even need to remind the writer of this more than once (HOCS or "Higher-Order Concerns" first, the LOCS or "Lower-Order Concerns").

• Direct your suggestions to the appropriate phase of the writing process (see chapter 2). If a student doesn't have a topic yet, you might begin with one or more invention strategies and ask the writer to try one or more of those. If a student has a draft but needs more details, take it back to invention/development. If a draft is complete but needs reorganizing, suggest ways to approach organizing--outlining, cutting/pasting. However, be sympathetic and realistic about a writer's deadlines and how much time is left before the paper is due. If the paper needs more work than time allows, let the writer know the range of changes and see if an extension will be allowed to revise the paper after its been seen by the teacher.

• Remember to look for strengths as well as weaknesses and to give sincere praise; we all benefit from knowing what is working well in our writing.

• Generally, limit a tutorial session to a half-hour session with drop-ins. Learning to focus a session on one or two particulars and scheduling later appointments or follow-up visits is best. On very busy days (likely around mid-term and year end), meetings may need to be reduced to 15-20 minutes. Much depends on how far along a paper is, what type of help a writer needs, and how many people are waiting for help.

• Offer to become a scribe. Let students dictate to you. Or take notes on a computer and print them out for the student. Or, when a student says something really good, hand them a keyboard or a pen and say, excitedly, "excellent! write that down so you won't forget it."

• Learn to like bad writing. This means learning to be able to see past obvious weaknesses to what is genuinely interesting and smart in a piece. Bad writing is, for almost every writer, a necessary passage on the way to good writing; thus, bad writing is a valuable and unavoidable part of writing.

• Learn to celebrate failure. Many writers struggle because they are trying something new. Very often you'll suggest an exercise or approach that won't work. However, had the writer not made the attempt, no one would have known how the approach would go. Writers, through trying and not succeeding, will learn more about writing and themselves as writers. They will learn better how their minds work and what strategies work best for them. Failure, when learning comes from it, is worth celebrating and building upon.

Major Do Nots--

• Do not tell students what grade you would give a paper or if you think it's "good" or "okay." Your role is to describe a writer's strengths and weaknesses and to offer them a menu of strategies and exercises that will help them build on strengths and strengthen their weaknesses.

• Do not discuss a grade a student received on an essay. Encourage students to talk with their instructors. Ignore grades and help students read and understand the marginal and end comments that may be on the paper. Students may try to put you on the spot. Don't let them.

• If a student brings back a paper you helped with but it didn't get a good grade, don't let the student make you feel guilty. Your job is to help students become better writers; it is not to help them w rite their way to higher grades. That part is really out of your hands.

• Do not proofread for a student. If a student says he can't spell and can't find misspelled words, ask them to point to words he is unsure of. If he says they all look wrong, send him to one of the directors. Let students know that while we do not proofread, we will help them learn to become better proofreaders themselves by discussing examples of mechanical problems in their own prose.

• Do not feel the need to read the whole essay, especially longer ones. Instead, ask the writer to say what the paper is doing. That is, have her tell you what the paper is about, what she wants it to do, where she wants it to go, and how she planned on getting there. Ask her, that is, to give you a verbal outline of the paper, perhaps. Then read selective portions as needed.

• Do not let a writer monopolize your time. Make sure you set a deadline for when the session will end. At five minutes to that end, let the writer know that time is almost up and begin to wrap things up; this will leave you and the writer time to schedule another meeting, and time for the writer to set some priorities for revision based on your discussion.

• Do not get angry and frustrated with writers who get angry or frustrated. You will meet writers who resent having received a recommendation to come to the Writing Center. Try to defuse their anger first, before even beginning to look at their writing. If you go directly into the writing problem without defusing the frustration, you may offer good and patient advice that gets rudely rebuffed. That will frustrate you and make you angry, and you'll have to fight not to show it. It's best, then to try to avoid putting yourself in such an untenable position. You are responsible for working to make the tone and tenor of the meeting productive.

Tips and Strategies for Working with ESL Students*

• Avoid generalizations in the term "ESL writers"--since no two ESL writers are like. Instruction should always be tailored to the needs of the individual writer. This also holds for writers with learning disabilities).

• Be aware that different cultures have different patterns or models of how discourse is organized and what makes for good and bad writing. These are often transferred into a student's English prose and show up to Americans as "errors" of focus, coherence, development, organization, and so on.

• Often the logical patterns of organizing discourse will be different for the ESL student. Some preferred rhetorical modes or patterns to be aware of are (from Writing Center Staff Handbook: Colorado State University, 2000-2001):

  • English: direct, linear; clear linkage between points and main idea; development through example and illustration; use of topic sentences.

  • Romance languages: flexible linearity; similar to English, but more digression allowed.

  • Asian languages: digression, various viewpoints, circularity; topic sentences often at end; main thesis often at end; emphasis on the big picture and setting context; devaluation of individual opinion.

  • Semitic/Arab: parallelism; connection between paragraphs and ideas through various kinds of linkage: synonymous (balance of thought), synthetic (connection of two ideas), anathetic (contrast), climactic (completion at end); lots of coordinating elements.

• Generally there are two types of ESL students who come into the Writing Center:

  • Those with major ESL "errors" who need lots of proofreading;

  • Those with some command of English; usually the major things are okay, but they still need some help with some recurring problem(s). These students we can usually help and give some strategies for problem-solving in the future.

• Help either group by applying the two-page exercise. After asking students about their concerns for the paper, read the first two pages and simply underline any place where there is an error (e.g., missing article, wrong verb tense, etc.). Then, identify any patterns of error, and teach the student how to correct for the patterns first, using examples from the first page (use handouts, explanations, teaching aids, and handbooks help with this). have the student fix the errors on the second page under your guidance. After reviewing the second page, turn the student loose on the rest of what they can or take it to an ESL professional editor. [Thanks to Ginny DeHerdt, CSU]

Tips and Strategies for Working with Learning Disabilities*

We do get some students in the Writing Center who may have undiagnosed learning disabilities. Our goal is not to diagnose those LDs. We are not trained for that. In fact, we do not want to even suggest to a student that he or she be tested for LD, nor ask if she/he has ever been tested for LD. If you suspect LD, please come speak with one of the directors after you finish working with the student. We will try to figure out what to do on a case-by-case basis.

*Adapted from the Writing Center Staff Handbook: Colorado State University, 2000-2001.

**Adapted, quite loosely, from CSU who adapted it from Wyoming.

***Very loosely adapted from CSU.