How to use a Writing Tutor
You will need to sign up at least a day in advance with any of our well trained 
writing lab tutors.  Students currently working as writing tutors have taken or 
are currently enrolled in WR 220, Methods of Tutoring Writing.  If your paper is 
8 pages or longer, please consider signing up for two, back-to-back, 30 minute 
conferences with the same writing tutor. 

We'll read your paper along with you and discuss choices in expressing your ideas. 
We'll teach you to revise, edit, and proofread so you'll become more independent. 
We'll offer suggestions to improve your writing but can't guarantee you a grade. 
We'll suggest research sources and methods but we can't do it for you. 
 

focus, develop, clarify, refine & organize 

your writing.  The conversation with the writing tutor is designed to bridge the 
gap between everyday language and academic discourse, allowing you to gain 
confidence and control in a comfortable setting.  In your conference, you can try 
out your ideas on a real reader.  You may think of it as practicing before the 
game, rehearsing for the performance, or trying on words and structures until 
they suit you and the rhetorical occasion. 

You are responsible for your own writing.  You can -- in fact, you must-- make 
your own choices about how much and what sort of revision you will do. 
Writing tutors are not TA's who instruct you on the subject matter of a particular 
course.  In a conference, you are the expert on the course material while the 
writing tutor points out patterns of grammatical error and stylistic problems, but 
they do not proofread or edit copy as if a draft were a final product.  They will 
share editing techniques with you if you ask.