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Writing center work is complicated work. "A Guide to Helping Writers Help Themselves" is designed to introduce you to our Writing Center and the complex, mutlifaceted job of the tutor so you can negotiate it as effectively as possible. In this guide, you will find practical suggestions and helpful information regarding the theoretical, practical, and political complexities of literacy education that influence and guide all writing center work. You will find additional resources below and, in fact, throughout the CSC pages. As a tutor you will be working with students from a variety of disciplines and with a variety of reading and writing tasks at various stages of completion. You may be tutoring some of these students online. You may be working with students in one of our "labs," a component of our Basic Writing Program--structured much like the Writing Workshop at Ohio State University. You may be involved with one of our many other research, promotional, or outreach activities. Whatever you do, please know that your work is important and appreciated. The university, this department, and the faculty here are committed to the Writing Center. We have a great location, a strong reputation, and an excellent history of support. I am committed to the Writing Center, our students, and especially our tutors. You will work hard here, but you will find that work rewarding. Most do, anyway. Read this guide; reflect upon your reading, writing, learning, and teaching experiences; get everything you can out of our Annual Orientation and our Weekly Tutor-Training meetings; ask questions of me and your fellow tutors; join the larger writing center community; and do anything else you can to engage with this complex, fascinating work. If you do, I am certain you will find excitement, pleasure, inspiration, and intellectual-stimulation at nearly every turn. I've been at this for several years now, and I just keep finding more and more to investigate, learn about, and get excited about. I know you will too. Getting Started Review A Guide for Writing Center Work Documentation Styles
Many students will ask for assistance with MLA, and most of you are deeply immersed in English studies yourselves so you likely know MLA quite well. Others will ask you for assistance with APA or Chicago, or even something completely unrelated. You may not feel qualified to assist students requesting assistance with documentation styles other than MLA.
You are qualified.
If you know MLA, you can figure out any other documentation style. All of these documentation styles have elements in common. Most have a preferred way of setting up the author's name, course name, instructor's name, date, page numbers, and the rest. Most require specific information be included in all citations. Most require writers include a list of works cited throughout the essay, and that list must be in a format specified by the responsible organization (MLA, APA, etc).
Show the writer how to look these things up in our various style manuals. You may also examine sample papers in each category, like these from Bedford/St.Martin's "Model Documents Gallery (http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/modeldocs/):
On MLA: http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/hacker/pdf/mla.pdf On APA: http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/hacker/pdf/apa.pdf On Chicago/Turabian: http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/hacker/pdf/chicago.pdf
On AIP: http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/modeldocs/pdf/AIP_paper.pdf On CBE: http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/modeldocs/pdf/CBE_paper.pdf
Other models (Business and Technical Writing) memorandum: http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/modeldocs/pdf/memorandum.pdf proposal: http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/modeldocs/pdf/proposal.pdf progress report: http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/modeldocs/pdf/progress_report.pdf formal report: http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/modeldocs/pdf/formal_report.pdf investigative report: http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/modeldocs/pdf/figure_11-2.pdf letter of application: http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/modeldocs/pdf/letter_applic.pdf follow-up/thank-you letter: http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/modeldocs/pdf/follow_thank.pdf resume: http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/modeldocs/pdf/resume.pdf
Plagiarism
Students will likely have many questions about how to avoid plagiarism. It is not an easy issue. You may review the many resources available in the "resources for faculty" section of this web space (http://www.tamu-commerce.edu/litlang/csc/plagiarism.htm)You should also explore the following resources:
A Tutorial on "How to Avoid Plagiarism" (for students):http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/plagiarismtutorial/pages/bcs-main.asp?v=&s=01000&n=00010&i=01010.01&o=
Workshop on Plagiarism (for teachers): http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/plagiarism/default.asp
Some philosophical and practical advice on thinking of plagiarism in new ways:
Additional Resources
About Plagiarism: http://www.tamu-commerce.edu/litlang/CSC/plagiarism.htm
About Teaching Writing: http://www.tamu-commerce.edu/litlang/CSC/writing2learn.htm
About Teaching First-Year Composition: http://faculty.tamu-commerce.edu/scarter/fyc_rft.htm
About Teaching Basic Writing: http://faculty.tamu-commerce.edu/scarter/bwp_introduction.htm
About the Politics of Literacy Education (and related administrative issues): http://faculty.tamu-commerce.edu/scarter/additional_resources.htm Last Updated, August 2006 Send questions/comments to Shannon_Carter@tamu-commerce.edu visitors since 8/2006 |
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RESOURCES FOR TUTORS