Writing Jobs: Become a Writing Center Tutor!

By Kayla Krasnow, Apollon Editor Spring 2021

Do you love writing and helping others with theirs? A job at your college or university’s writing center might be the perfect fit for you.

A Fairfield University Writing Center tutor, Maxine*, was generous enough to discuss her experience of working in the writing center. 

Maxine is a sophomore finance major with a minor in business writing. She has been working at the writing center for two semesters, and she has only tutored students virtually. She joined the writing center because writing is her strong suit.

At many schools, students in any major can work in the writing center because each person brings something special to the table. 

When working with students, Maxine has an approach she follows each time.

• She begins by introducing herself to make a connection and help the student feel more comfortable. 

• Then, she asks what the student wants to work on and what their goals for the session are. 

• Finally, she asks to see the prompt or assignment and reads both the prompt and the student’s paper out loud before they begin discussion. 

During Maxine’s time working as a tutor in the writing center, she has encountered the following situations, which she says are her greatest challenges: 

• When she does not have a lot of background on what the student is writing about.

• When the student has a hard prompt and is stuck on what to write.

• When the student is in graduate school and the content of the material is very advanced.

Maxine has never had to pass a student off in the middle of a session, but she has recommended students to more experienced tutors, or told them who may be a better fit to help them in the future.

Maxine likes to work with students in GoogleDocs. Instead of deleting what they wrote, she highlights places where the student can strengthen what they are saying and gives suggestions through the GoogleDocs suggesting feature.

"Deleting can be discouraging," she said.

In tutoring, Maxine believes you must balance being positive with the student while also making sure you are helping them and giving good criticism to strengthen their work. You cannot be too nice, but you also cannot be too harsh. 

"You know at the end of the session you will end up helping them either way because they signed up for it," Maxine said. 

When reading someone else's work out loud, Maxine thinks "What would I write in this situation, or how would I go about this prompt?" She will also ask students what made them approach their writing in a certain way so she can learn from them.

Not many business majors attend the writing center, so Maxine is looking into creating a business writing center workshop for business students. This will encourage more students to come to the writing center, and allow Maxine to apply her academic studies to her current job, which will also help prepare her for future jobs.

A few additional benefits Maxine says she has learned from her job as a writing tutor are:

• How to give constructive criticism.

• How to be confident in her own thoughts.

• Basic communication skills.

• Increased comfort with speaking to people she hasn't met before.

• Building relationships.

• Responsibility and time management (attending sessions, logging and managing her hours).

*Maxine's name has been changed to protect her privacy.