The Jones White Writing Center offers three kinds of tutorials to meet your needs:
- Face-to-face tutorials (recommended for everyone) where you will meet with a tutor and work for 30-45 minutes.
- Online tutorials (via Zoom, recommended for everyone) where a tutor will meet you online and work for 30-45 minutes.
- E-Tutorials (recommended for advanced writers) where you will upload your paper for feedback from a tutor.
Our tutorials include the following features:
- Focus on one or two areas of concern (if you have more than a few, schedule more tutorials).
- Develop and focus ideas as you talk one-on-one with a tutor.
- Involve drafting, revising, and reading aloud.
- Identify aspects of the paper you should continue to work on.
- Conclude with a short evaluation form.
- Respect the confidentiality of your visit. A tutor will send a report form to your instructor only at your request.
Writing Center tutors are IUP undergraduate and graduate students. Some of our tutors are retired professors who serve as volunteers.
A trained undergraduate or graduate student tutor will work with you one-to-one at any stage of composing—understanding an assignment, finding ideas, drafting, revising, documenting sources, or proofreading. Your tutor will help you to see strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement in your paper.
While tutors do not provide a proofreading service or promise to correct every error, we make every effort to help you to learn to do these things so that you can become a more independent writer. A tutor will help you to correct your paper. The tutor will read the paper with you and assist you in spotting errors, understanding why they are errors, and making corrections. There is not usually enough time to work through the entire paper, especially if it is long; the idea is to concentrate on specific parts of the paper, like the effectiveness of the introduction, the organization of the body, or the use of sources so that you can do the rest on your own.
It's a good idea to bring a copy of the assignment or course syllabus, as well as any notes, outlines, or rough drafts you may have.
Appointments are required only for the Online Writing Center. We do not make appointments for Eicher Hall or the Library Satellite, where tutoring is offered on a first-come, first-served basis. The wait, if any, is usually short, and you are welcome to use any of our computers at any time. During high traffic times (mid-terms and finals) it is a good idea to set aside additional time for your session in case you do encounter a wait.
Tutoring sessions usually last about 30 to 45 minutes. If you need more time with a tutor, you may return later in the day, but when we are busy we must limit visits to one per day.
I would like my instructor to know I came to the Writing Center for help. Will you let him/her know?
At your request, the tutor will send your instructor a form stating when you visited and what you worked on. Otherwise, all sessions are confidential.
It is up to you. If it is difficult for you to come to the Writing Center in Eicher Hall or in the library, consider scheduling an online session. In an online tutoring session, you will meet your tutor at the appointed time and view your paper together on-screen. You will need a computer with a microphone and speakers (or a headset). We do not use video.