Who are Tutors & Writing Fellows?
Paul Caputo, RC '95
Writing for college professors is different from any other sort of writing a person will ever do.
As a peer tutor in the writing center, I see my role as a student of writing philosophy. That is to say, I hope to learn more about writing style and quality from the students I tutor than I could hope "teach" anyone else. I do not see myself as an instructor, but rather as a peer, working with fellow students to reach a common goal.
That goal is not only to help students get a good grade from a certain professor (although, in many cases, that is important), but to learn to work with others in what I have always considered a solo effort.
Instead of writing for an authority figure (i.e., a teacher) or simply for my own purposes, my duty (for lack of a better word) as a writing tutor will be to work with students to make their writing better. At first, this sounds arrogant. However, in most cases, writing can be improved by having a peer review it. The writing center gives students a chance to review their work with someone whose job it is to offer constructive criticism.
Kelly Nagle, UR Writing Fellow
Writing Fellows are writers of different majors who are trained to read writers' papers and work with them regarding ideas and organization.
In my own classes I've yet to work with a Writing Fellow. If one had been assigned to a class during my freshman year, I probably would have assumed that the Fellow would read my paper over and make all necessary corrections including punctuation, spelling, and grammar. Yet proofreading is not included in the Fellows' duties. The Fellow should neither write papers for students nor put ideas in their heads. The Fellow should instead act as a catalyst who helps writers organize and clearly state their thoughts by prodding them and asking them appropriate questions. The Fellow does not have to have taken the subject or course for which the paper is written. Instead, the Fellow must maintain the role of writer to writer, not of tutor to student.
As a Fellow I have learned a lot from the people with whom I've worked, because I have considered them writers, not students or tutees. The role of the Writing Fellow, therefore, is one which enables writers to be confident that what they are writing is part of a process in which ideas can be shared.
Laurie Linder, UR Writing Fellow
I believe that the role of a Writing Fellow is to be someone who listens at all times and who offers advice in a non-threatening way to peers. It is advantageous, especially for writers who are still adjusting to the demands of college life or those who are just entering a discipline, to have someone they can go to on a friendly level.
Even though it is the Fellow's duty to be impartial and to avoid giving away ideas, the tutor relationship is a great way for less experienced writers to gain confidence in their own voices through peer encouragement. Having someone to talk to who can identify with a writer's problems, because the Fellow went through the same things in the past, helps to eliminate a writers' feelings of bewilderment about writing. Once the initial problems of organization and clear, concise writing are addressed, the writer will have the courage to express ideas and will feel confident that these ideas are being successfully conveyed to others.