Frequently Asked Questions about the Writing Center
 
Deciding to Use the Writing Center’s Services
 
Q: Who may use the Writing Center’s services?
 
A: Any student may use our services. Our tutors are trained to tutor students from many different language backgrounds, learning styles, and fields of study. If you are a native speaker of a language other than English, you may set up an appointment with our ESL specialist (available most semesters) by calling 863-3240. If you have a learning disability, you may also set up an appointment with a tutor by calling 863-3240. If you are a student who needs help with writing a paper for a technical class, please understand that many of our tutors are technical majors who can easily help you, and even if you get a tutor you is not a technical major, the tutor will still be able to help you with your paper’s unity, coherence, organization, development of ideas, style, and grammar.
 
Also, you are allowed to receive tutoring at any stage of the writing process, whether it is picking a topic, outlining, writing a draft, or polishing a final draft. Many students visit the Writing Center with no topic ideas for their assignments, and tutors are able to help them not only pick a topic but also to find sources or to begin writing about that topic.
 
Q: Why should I visit the Writing Center?
 
A: All people should seek second opinions on their writing. No person is perfect, and no writer is perfect. If you think that receiving tutoring will make you look “stupid,” you should not feel that way. Using the Writing Center’s services is a smart contribution to your education and your grades.
 
Q: Do you charge for tutoring?
 
A: No, we do not charge for our tutoring services. All tutoring is FREE.
 
Q: Do you help students with papers for classes other than English?
 
A: You may use our services for help with any class that involves any type of writing in the English language. Our services extend to technical fields and even writing that is not assigned. Some writers bring in theses, novels, cover letters, and scholarship applications.
 
Understanding the Writing Center
 
Q: What do I do when I enter the Writing Center? What happens during a tutorial?

A: When you first enter the Writing Center, you will see a receptionist, who will sign you in and give you two papers that you will need to fill out. These two papers are an evaluation sheet and a contact report, which may be completed and sent to your instructor if you want it to be.

You might have to wait for a tutor if the Writing Center is busy. A tutor will soon come and get you, and the tutoring session will begin with a brief discussion of your assignment's requirements.

Next, either you or the tutor will read the paper aloud so errors, as well as beautiful phrasings, can be heard easily. Sometimes after each paragraph, the tutor will stop the reading and begin to discuss global and local concerns, specifically the concerns that you wrote on the evaluation sheet before the session began. Most tutors prefer, however, for you to read the entire paper (or selection if it is a long paper) aloud so you both can get a sense of the whole, then go back and look at the highest-order concerns. The tutor will make suggestions and also ask you many questions to help you generate ideas for the assignment.

Usually, a tutorial for a 4-page paper lasts about 30 minutes, especially if the Writing Center is busy.  If no one is waiting and both you and the tutor would like to spend a little more time discussing the paper, a session may last as long as 45 minutes or an hour. It is best to keep the session to a half hour by focusing on only a few high-order concerns. After a half hour, attention spans tend to lapse. If the Writing Center is especially busy, group tutorials might be held.

At the end of the session, the tutor will go away for a few minutes and write your contact report, and you will have to write a short and anonymous evaluation of the tutorial that you will give to the receptionist as you leave.

Q: What is a contact report? Should I have you send one?
 
A: A contact report is a sheet of paper that lists your name, ID number, major, course, instructor, the time and location of your visit, and, most importantly, a description of your session. It is addressed to your instructor, and we describe the specific writing concerns we discussed. Tutors NEVER write negative comments in contact reports because a contact report is designed to show your instructor that you put effort into your assignment. If you do not want your instructor to know that you received tutoring, you may choose to not have one sent to your instructor, but usually sending contact reports is preferable.
 
Q: What do I need to bring with me? Do I need to have a draft?
 
A: Please bring whatever useful materials you have. If you have not yet written a draft, you may come to the Writing Center with just an assignment sheet, and we will still be able to help you. If you have a draft, however, please bring it. Also, you might want to bring any of your old graded papers, which might help us to understand your usual writing weaknesses.
 
Q: Help! My paper is due in one hour! Can you edit it for me?
 
A: No, tutors do not edit students’ papers. If you need help with your writing, we will gladly assist you, but we do not believe in doing students’ work for them. Instead we suggest and explain possible ways to improve your writing. The paper remains either in front of you or between us so you can easily write on your own paper. Also, we encourage you to not wait until the last minute. We believe in the writing process, which should be started well in advance of your assignment’s due date.
 
Understanding Peer Tutors
 
Q: Who may become a tutor?

A: The process of becoming a peer tutor begins with the submission of an application at http://www.ulc.psu.edu/wcjob.htm and a letter of recommendation from an instructor who knows you as a writer. Interested students are interviewed and, if accepted, are trained in a three-credit, semester-long course called English 250:  Peer Tutoring in Writing. Prerequisites for English 250 are English 15 or 30 (English 202 is preferred but not required). In English 250, tutors-in-training learn about the different types of writing that are commonly assigned at Penn State, as well as techniques for tutoring. They also learn about the Writing Center's policies, write papers on tutoring issues, and observe current tutors at work so they can better learn how to conduct a tutoring session. Finally, tutors-in-training complete a practicum of unpaid, supervised tutoring (as part of the English 250 class) before they may officially join the Writing Center staff.

Not all tutors are English majors. Many of the current tutors are pursuing degrees in areas such as Microbiology, Finance, Communication Sciences and Disorders, Secondary Education, Communication Arts and Sciences, Public Relations, Animal Bioscience, Spanish, French, Philosophy, Psychology, IST, Business Logistics, Journalism, Nutrition, Political Science, Latin American Studies, International Politics, Sociology, Anthropology, and Biology. Talented writers and educators are not always English majors; likewise, English majors are not always the best writers and educators.

Q: Are tutors more like instructors or more like peers?
 
A: Tutors are like neither instructors nor peers. Although both tutors and instructors teach you about writing, we differ from instructors because we are not authority figures and we do not tell you what grade your paper will get. We encourage you to speak to your instructors during their office hours if you have questions about what an assignment means or why you got a certain grade.  Tutoring can never completely replace your instructors’ knowledge of his class and grading policies. Although we are called peer tutors because we are often similar in age and education as you are, we are typically more knowledgeable about writing than the average student is.  Actually, we think that being a peer involves taking a rhetorical stance as a fellow writer that any tutor can take with any other writer despite differences in age or education.