track
chAng es
APRIL 2015, VOLUME I, ISSUE NO. 1
Writing Center assists students develop writing skills
College students know that the
routine of gulping myriad cups of
coffee, fighting their eyes to stay
open and counting the number of
hours they can sleep if they finish
an assignment within a certain time
frame is all too familiar.
Although students often
procrastinate studying or making
presentations, there is one infamous
task that students generally save
until the night before: essay writing. Thursdays, but closes at 2 p.m.
The University of Maryland
Writing Center encourages students
to avoid procrastination by offering
assistance in outlining, developing
and revising in any part of the
writing process.
“Our services help students
stay on track of their assignments,”
The Writing Center aims to accommodate busy
students’ schedules.
Graphic by Kayla Schorr
Writing Center assistant director
Douglas Kern said. “If they schedule
an appointment for three days
before a paper is due, this will force
students to get their papers done
before their appointment, and not
wait until the last minute,” Kern
said.
The Center welcomes students
of all majors and operates between
9 a.m. and 8 p.m. Mondays through
on Fridays. Students can make
appointments for academic or
personal writing assistance, and
can book an appointment for
either a half hour or hour time slot.
From 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Mondays
through Thursdays, the Center
offers walk-in hours, during which
students can come in
without scheduling an
appointment.
“I help students from
all types of majors,”
Writing Center tutor
James Mott said. “I am
an American studies
major, but I’ve helped
people write biology
labs, medical school
applications and even
personal novels,” Mott
said.
Although the
Writing Center mainly
focuses on students
who physically come
in for an appointment,
1208 Tawes Hall
University of Maryland,
College Park 20742
writadmin@umd.edu
301-405-3785
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page 2: The Road to Tutoring
-Tutor information
-Preparation before
employment
Page 3: Meet the Team
-Profile of assistant
director Tom Earles
-Q&A with tutor Jordan
Aaronson
Page 4: Tutoring theories
-Inside look into
different Writing
Center and tutoring
philosophies
it offers other resources for students
who may not be able to come to the
Writing Center. The Center offers
online tutoring and even a grammar
hotline that students can call for
quick grammatical questions.
Even though procrastination
may seem like an inevitable fate in
college, the Writing Center aims to
develop its clients writing, and help
them avoid this unhealthy tendency.
For more information, follow
the Writing Center on Twitter at
@UmdWritCenter or refer to https://
www.english.umd.edu/academics/
writingcenter.
Track Changes VOLUME I, ISSUE NO. 1

The Road to Becoming a Writing Center Tutor

Observe tutors who already

Apply online at the UMD Writer work at the Center while
Center’s website by submittting taking ENGL388W
a description of why you would
like to be a tutor, two references
and two writing samples

Enroll in ENGL388W: Writing Learn tutoring theories and Become a paid tutor and work at
Center Internship, which takes complete projects in ENGL388W least six hours a week. Employees
place from 3:30-6:00 p.m. on that help build writing and pick their own hours to fit their
Mondays tutoring skills schedules

The Writing Center ensures that all of of its tutors are well-trained before they become paid employees.
Infographic by Kayla Schorr

Students become tutors through internship class

The answer to your first question: no, you do not The class meets once a week for two and a half
need to be an English major to be a Writing Center hours; however, students are also required to intern at
tutor. The Writing Center encourages students with the Center for six hours
specialized focuses besides writing to apply to work per week. During this
as tutors. For example, marketing majors may not semester, interns act as
excel at developing a discourse on Greek mythology, regular Writing Center
but they can help clients with business writing. As tutors, but do not
long as students possess a solid knowledge of the tutor any professional
English language and the ability to assist students writing or upper level
efficiently and patiently, they can work at the Writing humanities classes.
Center. The Writing
Potential tutors can apply online on the Center’s Center internship
website. The Center requires applicants to submit lets students build
personal information, two references, two writing their own theories on
samples, and a description of why they would like to tutoring. Interns at
participate in the Writing Center internship. the Writing Center
Selected applicants then enroll in a four-credit may all have different
class, ENGL388W, for the following semester. During views on client agency,
ENGL388W, students actively engage in discussions, body language and
presentations, debates and group projects. At the end ESL tutoring, but these Writing Center interns get
hands-on experience before becoming
of the semester, all students write research papers differing opinions paid employees.
about their personal theories about the proper way only contribute to the
Photo by Kayla Schorr
to tutor students. Center’s diversity.

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 Track Changes VOLUME I, ISSUE NO. 1

MEET SOME OF THE WRITING CENTER TEAM

Earles transitions from a tutor to an assistant director
Students complain about essay writing relentlessly. They Forklift, Ohio and the Michigan Quarterly Review. Currently, he
often struggle with formulating a thesis, balancing quotes with is working on a science fiction novel, and hopes to finish by the
original content and crafting a bibliography. Imagine having to summer.
perform all of these formidable tasks in a new language. Earles enjoys his
Writing Center assistant director Tom Earles became role as an assistant
passionate about ESL tutoring during his undergraduate studies director, but says
at Rutgers University. While in search for an on-campus job, he misses all of
he stumbled upon the Writing Center and suddenly became the interactions he
interested in working with students to help them better their encountered while
writing processes and English skills. tutoring.
“It started out just as something that paid,” Earles said. “I get to go to
“When I began to notice how much my assistance affected conferences and listen
my clients, I knew this was something I wanted to continue to to esteemed writers
pursue.” talk about their writing
Earles continued his writing center career by completing theories, I get to work
a practicum after a year of tutoring. There, he learned about a with an incredible
whole new world of writing center theory and the professional staff and oversee a
aspect of his part-time job. Throughout this process, he wonderful board of
continued to focus on tutoring ESL students and facilitating the tutors, but I really do
language barrier between tutors and students. miss helping people
He began tutoring at University of Maryland in 2009 while directly,” Earles said.
pursuing a graduate degree in English. A year later, he applied “Especially with ESL
to be an assistant director. students, I miss feeling
“I liked the worked so much that I got involved in graduate like I taught someone Assistant director Tom Earles became
school also,” Earles said. “Little did I know that Maryland has something valuable.” insipired by his undergraduate writing
has one of biggest writing centers in the world, and I would Earles comes to center and now helps manage the Writing
soon be involved in leading it.” work every day excited Center at University of Maryland.
This is Earles’ sixth year as an assistant director, and he to see his employees Photo by Kayla Schorr
is excited to see what other paths he can explore through the help students, just as
writing center field. In addition to co-managing the Center, he had back in his
he writes fiction in his free time and has been published by undergraduate days.

Q&A: Senior Jordan Aaronson shares her Writing Center experiences

WC: How would you describe your tutoring WC: What is your favorite part of tutoring?
experience?
JA: I love when I get to see students’ progress.
JA: My tutoring experience has been a One time, I had a student come to me over
rollercoaster of learning, teaching and trying 15 times, and it was incredible to see how she
to always be flexible and patient. Every single developed as a writer. Her writing became
student who comes to the Writing Center is polished and she became more confident with
there for a different reason with a different her writing abilities.
assignment, so you always have to cater the
session to that person. WC: Do you have any memories that stand out
when thinking about your tutoring experience?
WC: What have you learned throughout your
journey as a tutor? JA: I once had a student who came in and was
very quiet. We started to go through his paper,
JA: I have learned so many things from and he really was not giving me much (no
my experiences as a tutor. I have definitely responses, just head nods). I decided to just
developed as a reader, writer, editor, and talk with him about his topic and his thoughts
Senior English major Jordan mentor, but I have also learned quite a bit
Aaronson has a passion for helping about myself. I have managed to become
on it. He ended up opening up, and his passion
students develop their writing skills. more accommodating and have learned the
for the paper really shined through. The session
changed dramatically from unproductive to
importance of patience and resourcefulness. productive, and I loved seeing that.
Credit: Aaronson’s Facebook

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Track Changes VOLUME I, ISSUE NO. 1

Tutoring theories: which ones suit you?

Every tutor at the Writing Center has a different tutoring philosophy. While many tutors
do only what their students ask, other tutors delve deeper into the session and make sure the
students can learn as much as possible. Some tutors lead sessions as more of a discussion, rather
than a hands-on editing session. Some tutors build in five minutes of a session for their students
to reflect on what they learned. The diversity of tutoring styles gives students the opportunity to
figure out what kinds of tutoring styles they prefer. Below are some of the most popular tutoring
theories. Although some contradict others, many tutors use all of these theories, depending on
their students’ temperaments.

Writer-based prose Reader-based prose

Writers often use Writers use
writer-based prose when reader-based prose when
involving their personal identity in their goal is to ensure their readers
writing. When applying writer-based fully understand their writing. When

VS.
prose, the writer does not conform to
the ideals of proper grammar or sentence
structure. Instead of saying “she and I will
go to the store,” a writer may instead say “me
and her are gonna go to the store.” At the
Writing Center, tutors must understand
that many writers choose to embrace
their own identity in writing, even
if that involves ignoring basic
grammatical concepts.
developing a piece in reader-based prose,
writers often have to translate their own
thoughts into clear and cohesive material. This
would mean that the writer would consistently
use proper grammar and sentence structure.
Tutors at the Writing Center often assume
that students intend to use reader-based
prose for academic writing, but
might use writer-based prose for
personal writing.

Directive tutoring Non-directive tutoring

Directive tutors fully In the non-directive
lead sessions without giving tutoring style (also called
students much authority to choose minimalist tutoring), the tutor gives
what they would like to revise. They the writer the power to lead a tutoring

VS.
tell students what to do rather than asking
questions to gauge the student’s ideas. A
directive tutor will often make suggestions
like “add a comma here” or “break this up
into two sentences,” without consulting the
opinion of the student. This method is often
necessary when students are lost in their
writing and are unaware of what kind
of voice they want to use in their
pieces.
session. Instead of the tutor addressing all
of the issues in a paper, the tutor encourages
the student to find issues with the paper and
propose how to improve them. If a student
asks, “does this paragraph sound ok,” a non-
directive tutor would respond, “tell me
what you would want to change to make
it better.” These tutors truly prompt
students to be the judges of their
own writing.