Supportive Guidance
Tutors, please regularly review the following chart to help ensure a consistent Writing Center experience for our students.
Students, please understand that instead of editing your work, the Writing Center’s tutorial staff works hard to help you improve your writing skills.
Editors Versus Tutors
Adapted from The Allyn and Bacon Guide to Peer Tutoring
| Editors | Tutors |
|---|---|
| Focus on the text | Focus on the writer’s development and establish rapport |
| Take ownership of the test | Make sure the writer takes ownership |
| Proofread | Start with higher-order concerns and worry about grammatical corrections last |
| Give advice | Ask questions |
| Look mainly for things to improve | Comment on things that are working well |
| Work with an ideal text | Trust the writer’s idea of a text |
| Make corrections on the page | Keep hands off and let the writer make corrections; help them learn correctness |
| Tell writers what to do | Ask them their plan for revision |