Q: I asked a student what she wanted to help with, and she said grammar, but her paper had more problems with citation. Should I try and fix everything?

A: I commend you for your concern for the student and your willingness to negotiate a session’s goals from the start. This is tricky because we can’t fix everything, and we should try to focus on what the student asks. Keep in mind, though, that students don’t always use the same writing vocabulary as we do. I’ve found that students will ask you to “help with grammar” as a catch-all phrase when they’re not totally sure what they need to work on—maybe they receive papers from professors with lots of marks and circles, and they’re not quite sure what they’re looking at.

If a student asks you for help with grammar but you notice more pressing issues with the paper, someone must make the call between focusing on , say, “that/which” errors or on plagiarism. Try communicating this with the student and leave it up to them. Say something like: “We can definitely try to look for patterns of error in your grammar, but I’m noticing a lot of quoted material that hasn’t been cited. You don’t want to unintentionally plagiarize your source’s words – do you want to tackle that first and then use the remaining time for smaller grammar mistakes? It’s up to you.”

A response like this does a few things:

• It shows that you’re actively listening to them and letting them direct the work on their paper, thus giving them ownership of their work
• It reminds them that plagiarizing is a more pressing matter than small grammar mistakes, especially if it’s happening frequently in a paper
• It demonstrates that you’re looking at the writer and the paper holistically, not as a minefield of mistakes to be diffused for an A paper

Would you approach this differently? Share your own answer to this question in the comments.

By Dr. Ben

There are three principles I’ve tried to encourage all Writing Center tutors to follow. There are many things to learn about tutoring writing, but these three are a good start (in no particular order):

1. We work as a team. Tutors in the IUP Writing Center have a big challenge. Students visit the center from all colleges and majors, and they bring a wide variety of topics and assignments. No one can be an expert on every subject, so it’s vital that tutors rely on one another to ask questions, talk about sessions, and offer support. New tutors look to more experienced tutors for advice and role models. The directors depend on the tutors to undertake new projects, take responsibility for the work in the Writing Center, and alert the staff to problems or concerns. We have a “flat” organizational structure, and this requires that everyone work together.
2. We use our good judgment. No amount of teamwork can replace the need for individuals to exercise good judgment. When you’re one-one-one with a student in a tutoring session, you have to draw upon your own experience, intellect, and judgment to help the writer become a better writer. Consulting with other tutors and the directors can help to improve the judgments we all have to make, but everyone needs to use their own heads.
3. We welcome feedback. We communicate, and we do so at all levels. When someone does a good job or does something nice, we tell them. If one of our tutors needs help with a session, we help them. If I ask you to do something that seems impractical or ineffective, you have to tell me. We don’t just let problems slide and hope they’ll go away.