Date:
September 13, 2016: 6:00pm - 6:30pm
The student wanted help to make sure her paper was clear and free of grammatical issues . We mostly dealt with issues of verb tense agreement and article usage . We reworded a few sentences to help make them more clear. We also added to the conclusion to make it a fuller and more informative conclusion.
Date:
September 20, 2016: 6:00pm - 6:30pm
The student primarily wanted to make sure that his paper was free of grammatical errors and that his ideas flowed and made sense, and that they effectively conveyed what he was trying to say. We went through the paper aloud and made adjustments as needed, primarily in areas of article usage, tense agreement, plural vs. singular, etc. The student would explain what he was trying to convey when we reached passages that were unclear, and we would rework the sentence if need be.
Date:
September 20, 2016: 6:30pm - 7:00pm
The student had two papers she wanted to look over. The first was a short literary analysis for a philosophy class, and she was mostly concerned about redundancies and tone, as well as grammar errors. We went through and made some adjustments for grammar issues and tone issues, but it was a mostly well-written, concise essay that stayed on topic, so not much work was needed. The second paper was a longer essay, and based on the description of what the teacher told them it sounded like a free-write/associative/stream-of-consciousness paper that followed a theme from one specific genre in her life. The paper was a bit all over the place, but we worked on making sure to address the main theme of what she was writing about throughout the paper. There were several instances that seemed a little out there, so we reeled them back in to be on topic.
Date:
September 20, 2016: 7:00pm - 8:00pm
The student brought in their reading summary/analysis/response for their class and wanted to make sure it made sense, was coherent, was free of grammatical errors, and flowed as one full thought (not choppy). We read throught aloud and fixed grammar issues as we saw them. We also checked the analysis against the source to ensure the meaning was correctly interpreted. Finally, we inserted necessary transition words into the text to make it flow.
Date:
September 20, 2016: 8:00pm - 9:00pm
The student wanted to make sure her mini-essays for med school apps were free of grammar issues, adequately answered each question, and were the proper tone. We made changes as needed for great, and I suggested changes based on the context to help ensure that the way she was saying certain things would not be negatively misinterpreted. We also worked on condensing much of the essays due to strict character limits.
The last few minutes of our appointment was interrupted due to a fire alarm going off and having to evacuate...
Date:
September 27, 2016: 6:00pm - 6:30pm
The student needed help with formatting her paper in APA format, so we went to Purdue Owl and I showed her how to navigate the site for furture reference. We then looked over the general APA guidelines and formatted her paper so it met these. I taught her how to create a header and title page (with a different header than everything else), how to cite references and do in-text citations. We then briefly discussed the paper and specific worries she had with it.
Date:
September 27, 2016: 6:30pm - 7:00pm
The student brought in her final draft of a snapshot-style essay that focused on "green"/nature. The student was unsure of how to approach the style and had fallen into the pattern of creating a work that clearly flows from one paragraph/idea to the next, utilizing transitions similar to a standard essay. We worked through the paper by reading it aloud and catching any issues of grammar or syntax, and for each snapshot we discussed how it applied to the theme. We also went through and made sure each passage was not neatly flowing into the next by ending the previous passage in a way that introduced the next, but rather in ways that it was clear they were related but weren't a neat, tidy transition from one idea to the next. We also discussed adding in different genres/writing styles to make the distinction between each snapshot even cleaner. We talked about adding in a diary entry, a POV section or two, a section of entirely dialogue, and a poetry section. We discussed how and where these would be most effective in her current essay.
Date:
September 27, 2016: 7:00pm - 7:30pm
The student wanted to ensure that her paper was free of grammar issues and that she understood phrases from the text correctly.
Date:
September 27, 2016: 7:30pm - 8:00pm
The student was unsure if the formatting of her narrative would meet her professors guidelines. She had chosen letters as the genre she wanted to focus on, and her essay was about how she and her best friend utilized letters to stay in touch after one moved out of country. We talked about how the professor might want her to write it, with everything being contained in letter format, and discussed ways to achieve that using what she had. However, she was happy with the work she had, which was high quality in my opinion, and did not want to make those changes unless instructed to by her professor during their conference the next day. So I went through the paper with that in mind, and noted places where she could increase the use of the genre without having to start over. We added in several places that would help flesh out the story and use her genre effectively, including an interesting intro that would immediately show the genre she chose (something the professor said he wanted). We also cleaned up the ending a bit.
Date:
September 27, 2016: 8:00pm - 9:00pm
We reviewed lots and lots of med school app essays. She mostly wanted to check grammar, make sure she addressed the topic, and make sure her responses were appropriate.
Date:
October 4, 2016: 6:30pm - 7:00pm
The student was creating a resume for a job application for the first time and wasn't sure what elements to include and how much to expand on each topic, etc. We went through and I suggested removing certain elements that were unnecessary or redundant, condensing where possible and expanding where needed. We also discussed what is relevant and important for her to include, discussing how she might want to eliminate elements that were older or that she did not hold a leadership role in (unless she felt they were important, and then we discussed how best to frame it). We also talked about audience and context, and how to tailor each resume slightly so that it is clear how she has skills necessary for each individual job. We also briefly discussed style.
Date:
October 4, 2016: 7:00pm - 8:00pm
The student actually came in with a different paper that they still needed to begin, so they composed it in session. They went line-by-line to create the paper, and each time we checked for clarity and to make sure the ideas flowed from one to the next logically. They also asked for help translating from the article upon which the assignment was based, and ensuring that what they were saying matched up with the data they had interpreted (usually phrases like "less than," "greater than," etc).
Date:
October 4, 2016: 8:30pm - 9:00pm
The student brought in their rough draft for their honors in the major thesis research proposal. She wanted to make sure it was grammatically correct and that it was clear and made sense to a layman. We went through and I indicated areas that needed to be more specific or expanded on, as well as addressed grammar issues.
Date:
October 11, 2016: 6:00pm - 6:30pm
The student was required to attend for class credit. The student brought in a paper that was coherent and documented his experiences well. He was primarily concerned with organization and formatting, as well as grammar and flow. We went through the paper aloud and made changes where needed, and then we discussed the structure and how best to ensure that he had all requisite elements organized coherently. We also discussed citation and how best to include that.
Date:
October 11, 2016: 6:30pm - 7:00pm
The student had to attend for class credit. She was primarily concerned with grammar and flow, wanting to ensure that her paper balanced the narrative with the informative. We went through the paper and made changes as needed for grammar, clarified areas that needed clarification, and also discussed structure and organization and made recommendations for possible changes. We also discussed how to format and cite using MLA, and looked over the Purdue owl website to help guide her.
Date:
October 11, 2016: 7:00pm - 7:30pm
The student was not sure how best to approach the topic, so we clarified her thesis and then created an outline that would make the writing process as easy as possible. We talked through ideas and made sure that each element always strengthened the argument presented by the thesis. We also discussed adding in elements like paragraphs that discussed the history of certain issues being discussed. We also talked about how to cite information.
Date:
October 11, 2016: 7:30pm - 8:00pm
The student had spent the previous 30 minutes in session with another tutor before coming to our session. He was primarily concerned with grammar and clarity, so we went through the remainder of the paper and made changes as needed. Once we finished that, he wanted to ensure that the paper was organized properly and flowed together, since he was presenting two separatelyrics written papers as one cohesive paper, as per the assignment. We discussed the necessity of a new introduction and howe to set that up, and then discussed where transitions and transitional sentences were needed to make the paper cohesive.
Date:
October 11, 2016: 8:00pm - 8:30pm
The student brought in a research summary and wanted to ensure that it was free of grammar/usage errors and that it was organized and logical. We went through the paper aloud and made changes as needed, discussing areas that were unclear or confusing.
Date:
October 11, 2016: 8:30pm - 9:00pm
The student was primarily interested in great and organization. We went through the paper aloud and made adjustments as needed. The student had to attend in order to get class credit, and while it was not an unproductive session, per se, it was also relatively evident that she was only there because she had to be.
Date:
October 18, 2016: 6:00pm - 7:00pm
The student brought in her creation myth creative work. We went through and consolidated the story into a more streamlined and clear idea, as it jumped multiple times through several ideas she had been toying with using. We also went through and fixed grammar issues and worked on making good things as clear as possible. There were also some issues with word choice that we addressed. We spent a good deal of time working and reworking the conclusion, since what she had she didn't like because it was rushed and did not adequately close the story the way she wanted. We discussed several possibilities and wrote the ideas down.
Date:
October 18, 2016: 7:30pm - 8:00pm
The student was modifying his personal statement front his medical school apps and using it as a base for a scholarship essay. We went through aND removed the majority of the 3.5 pages, since the scholarship essay could only be one page total. We got it down to about 3/4 of the page and rearranged it so it would better set up his essay. We went through again and deleted as much as possible. We then added in the crux of what the essay asked:the students future goals and plans. The space left for that was about 1/4 of the page, so we tried to incorporate it more in the preceeding paragraphs and delete extraneous detail. When the session ended we discussed what else needed to be added in, and places he could potentially remove if need be.
Date:
October 25, 2016: 6:30pm - 7:00pm
The student brought in her summaries of research for her class, and we went through to catch grammatical errors and make sure everything was logical and made sense. We had to look up a few things from the reading to make sure suggested changes did not skew what was being said, and also to make sure the student had accurately interpreted the information (based on understanding colloquialisms,etc and not at all on any knowledge I had of statistics...because I am very lacking in that department). We also read the paper aloud, with me reading the paragraph and then the student reading it back to work on pronunciation.
Date:
October 25, 2016: 7:00pm - 7:30pm
The student was confused and concerned because each of her proposals she had submitted for their second research paper had been negatively received and she was unsure how to meet the requirements that the professor was telling her. She was frustrated because she felt she was clear on the expectations of the assignment. We went through the prompt and tried to break it down, and then we looked at feedback from her professor to consolidate that against the prompt. We then took her current proposal and tried to get it to fit within the parameters being set. We tried to make the research question as specific as possible, since she kept getting comments back about it being too broad. We then went through and answered all of the guiding questions using her topic choice. After that we created an outline to get the basic structure of the essay. We talked about how to incorporate her previous topic to be able to use her first rough draft and some of her sources, and also how to find sources that will help with her current topic.
Date:
October 25, 2016: 7:30pm - 8:00pm
The student had a midterm essay concerning ideas of community and privilege shown in two movies seen in class. The student wanted to make sure it addressed the prompt, was well organized, and was free of grammatical errors. She also had a strict word limit of 750 words, so we had to go through and delete certain redundant or extraneous details in order to expound upon ideas that better supported her prompt. We then worked on solidifying her thesis and condensing her conclusion.
Date:
October 25, 2016: 8:00pm - 8:30pm
The student brought in a paper for her Food Science class. The prompt was pretty clear and straightforward, and the student had organized her paper accordingly. She was primarily concerned with making sure her paper adequately answered the prompt and addressed each issue that needed to be addressed while also flowing from one idea to the next. We went through the paper and made minor changes and suggestions, but there were few changes that I could find to suggest. It was a very well organized and thoughtful paper. We did work on trying to make sure everything was concise, so we did eliminate several places that were redundant or unnecessary. The biggest thing the student was fighting against was word count, but she had already basically addressed that issue by culling most of her paper before the appointment. We briefly discussed how to further remove and where she might be able to pull in information from where she had deleted. Finally, we discussed her final few paragraphs that she still needed to type and how to go about dealing with those.
Date:
October 25, 2016: 8:30pm - 9:00pm
The student came back in with the rest of her papers, having completed the rest of the papers from her previous appointment. We primarily worked on how best to ask questions of her class when giving a presentation, and how to word those so they would be clear and effective, making sure that what she was asking was what she wanted to discuss/how she wanted to discuss it.
Date:
November 1, 2016: 6:00pm - 6:30pm
The student brought in a copy of a blog post after her teacher suggested she come here to have it looked over. The student had been marked down multiple times for previous posts and did not understand why, and she said the teacher only provided her with "grammar issues" as an explanation and said she couldn't tell her anything else. We went through and made sure the post was grammatically correct, well organized, and made sense. Most of her issues were with comma and semicolon usage, as well as tense agreement and passive voice. We addressed that, and I identified areas that needed elaboration in order to make the piece flow better.
Date:
November 1, 2016: 6:30pm - 7:00pm
The student brought in a past paper that they wanted to revise so they could submit it to grad schools as their writing sample. The main issues they wanted to look out for were grammar issues, passive voice, organization, and clarity. I made several recommendations to change issues with grammar and passive voice, as well as recommending adding in sources or expanding on ideas that might need to be further explained or explored. We got through about half of the paper, and he said he plans to return to have the paper looked over again. I also told him what issues I saw in his paper multiple times and how to address that on his own in the future.
Date:
November 1, 2016: 7:00pm - 8:00pm
The student came in with a memo that her group created using a reading assignment and evaluating the methods used by the planners. We went through and corrected issues with grammar, and I also made notes in sections where I was unsure what was being said and the student had not authored the section. I made comments to ask if they meant what I thought they meant, and how I would recommend changing the sentence if I was correct in my interpretation.
Date:
November 1, 2016: 8:00pm - 8:30pm
The student brought in a draft of his final paper, which utilized sections of several previous papers we had worked on together. We went through and fixed grammar issues, typos, run-on sentences, punctuation errors, clarity errors, citation errors, etc. We also reorganized some elements to create better flow. We then discussed how to use elements from previous papers without plagiarizing oneself, and I recommended speaking with his teacher about citing himself if he insisted on using his previous work verbatim (although I recommended against it and provided guidance on how I would go about reworking it to better fit his overall paper).
Date:
November 1, 2016: 8:30pm - 9:00pm
Student came in with an essay we had previously worked on and wanted to condense and streamline the ideas. He also wanted to make sure everything was relevant and that it would do a good job of addressing the question. He needed it to be specific enough to hold attention but also broad enough to apply to the multiple med schools he was applying to through the common app.
Date:
November 8, 2016: 6:00pm - 7:00pm
The student wanted help in adding another academic article to his paper. We went through the library database for a little while, looking up articles, but unfortunately we hit a roadblock for a good portion of the session when the internet would not work for either the library computer or his laptop (or my phone or tablet). When the internet did come back up, we were able to access the databases and look at article titles, but the articles we wanted to look over would not pull up to look over. I spent most of the session just teaching him how to use the library's computer search system to look up scholarly articles. We found some potential articles that sounded like they would work for him based on the titles and abstracts, so I sent all of the links/citations for those to him via email. I also asked him if he wanted to go through the library and look for books on his topic, but he did not want to use books (specifically physical books, but also just in general). I ended the session by recommending he go talk to the research help desk or ask a librarian, and I explained how/where to access those resources. We also talked about how to utilize sources he already had more within his writing.
Look through articles we found in session and try to find something to use in those. If the articles are not helpful, try to go ask a librarian for research help.
Date:
November 8, 2016: 7:00pm - 7:30pm
The student finished writing her final draft of the paper for this class and wanted to come get help implementing feedback she had received from her professor. She was still struggling with the feedback since a lot of what she had been told contradicted previous instructions as she understood them, so she wanted an outside perspective to help her navigate through it all. We went through and reworked her opening and concluding paragraphs, since she said that was what she was most concerned with off the bat. We then went through and made changes as the professor suggested. We discussed what areas needed to be expounded upon or condensed, and we also worked on citation and properly introducing a quotations. She also had a quote from an interview that took up half a page, so we talked about either block-quoting it or breaking it up and discussing why that information was important (obviously I was aiming for the latter, and I discussed how block quotes can look lazy to a professor and that it is best to avoid them if possible). We then talked about the organization of the paper and how to structure each paragraph and how to move them around so they flowed logically from one idea to the next.
Date:
November 8, 2016: 7:30pm - 8:00pm
The student was nervous about her essay and wanted to make sure it stayed on topic, was free from grammatical errors, and was properly organized. We went through the paper and I made recommendations for changes as needed. We also discussed the organization of the paper at the end of everything, and thought of ways to move things around slightly to create better flow. We also discussed how and when to cite information, and how to introduce information that is not your own and then analyze it to strengthen your own argument.
Date:
November 8, 2016: 8:00pm - 9:00pm
The student brought in a literature review that his teacher suggested he bring in to the RWC to get grammar help with. We looked over the paper and made changes to the grammar as needed, with me asking questions about what the literature said and trying to see if what he was saying aligned with that. We also read through some of the research and he asked me if what he understood was correct, and I broke down those sentences with him to help him understand how the structure worked to convey the meaning. I could not always give him a solid yes or no, since the research was a little beyond my grasp of the subject, but in general I think we worked through the meaning of what was being said. He made notes of common phrases and what they tend to mean in the academic context as we went through the research.
Date:
November 15, 2016: 6:30pm - 7:00pm
The student was nervous about the paper and wanted to make sure it conformed to both the requirements as outlined in the assignment as well as academic conventions. We discussed how and when to cite, organization, extraneous or redundant information, making sure to address each aspect of the assigned prompt, and going over a paper to make sure that it is organized in a logical way that is consistent with the thesis. We also addressed issues in grammar when needed.
Date:
November 15, 2016: 7:30pm - 8:00pm
The student had a framework for her essay already in place, as well as a basic intro/conclusion. She wanted help in organizing the information she wanted to discuss, knowing when and how to cite outside sources, and how to structure an intro and conclusion to keep from sounding formulaic but still be adequate. We talked through the paper together and broke down the prompt to make sure she was addressing everything that would need to be addressed. I also went through the paper silently and showed her where errors in grammar/sentence structure/punctuation/etc had been made (and how constantly) as well as how to avoid those errors in the future.
Date:
November 15, 2016: 8:00pm - 8:30pm
This student want to make sure her paper was cohesive and clear, and that it addressed the prompt adequately. She was also struggling with how to cite, so we talked about what citations are used for in a research paper and why, and then we went through her paper and discussed ways to improve her use of citations by introducing the content, quoting the text, and then discussing how that relates to or reinforces ideas being presented (and how it enhanced to the thesis). She also had a habit of using huge block quotes and ending paragraphs on a quotation, so we talked about why you don't want to do that (since it undermines her own authority, etc). We also addressed issues with grammar/sentence structure.
Date:
November 22, 2016: 6:00pm - 6:30pm
The student brought in a brief essay where she had to describe a situation where she had felt a strong emotion and reacted because of it, and then analyze whether her response was justified or due to underlying issues. She mostly wanted to make sure what she was saying made sense and her paper was free from grammar issues. We went through the paper aloud and I identified areas that needed help and discussed why and how to fix it.
Date:
November 22, 2016: 6:30pm - 7:00pm
The student brought in a rough draft of his final paper for the class. It was more or less an amalgamation of the research papers that we had previously worked on. The student's main concerns were making sure it was organized logically and coherently, addressing issues in grammar and mechanics (as well as typos), and making sure it presented a cogent argument. We went through the paper aloud and fixed immediate errors in grammar/punctuation/typos, and then we discussed organization. He still had a good deal left to add in, but we discussed the basic structure and flow of the paper, talked through a general outline, and discussed briefly the thesis.