Tutored to Be a Tutor By the Tutor
By Mary Black
St. Joseph's University

Nervous, weren’t you? That anxious first-day-feeling of not knowing what to expect—from the tutee, from the center, from yourself—built up like the fizz of a soda until—POP—the pressure was released. But sometimes that feeling doesn’t fade, and then what? The new, uncomfortable, shaky first-day jitters turn into second and third and fourth day nervousness until you worry that maybe the problem isn’t the butterflies in your stomach, but rather—you.

This Isn’t Oz: No Need for Omniscience in the Writing Center
By Lauren Boyle
St. Joseph's University

Ken, a visibly nervous first-year student, hesitantly stepped into our writing center one November afternoon with a paper on nepotism. I noticed that he approached me much like Dorothy came to the Wizard of Oz in the classic film, minus the ruby slippers and the blue checkered getup, of course-- slowly, politely, as if attempting to dodge my inevitable yelling. Like most first-time tutees, Ken probably expected a swarm of draconian English majors to douse his paper in red ink and promptly rip it to shreds before his eyes. It was up to me to let Ken know that, most unfortunately for me, I was not the great and all-knowledgeable Wizard.

Consulting Over Time: Theses and Dissertations: "Idea Journals" and the Tutorial Session
By Andrew Kinsell
University of Central Florida

Navigating through graduate school is an arduous journey, one that requires a delicate balance of self-assurance, determination, and collaboration with colleagues. It is in graduate school when students are continually challenged, some for the very first time, as they are required to clear hurdle after hurdle without losing the confidence and resolve with which they entered their respective programs. However, only after a graduate student has overcome seemingly every obstacle does the truest test of his or her student career begin with the completion of a thesis or dissertation.

Using Visuals to Review an Effective Paper
By Robert Steibel
University of Central Florida

Critical self-reflection is a necessary part of the tutor's job. Not only must we consider our personal interactions and attitudes during tutorials, but we also have to think about the perceptions and conduct associated with the writing center itself. Through this self-reflection, many scholars have discovered that gender plays...