The Dos Pueblos HS Writing Center
HOW IT WORKS
1. Gather all the papers you have that have anything to do with your assignment, sign in and fill out the first part of a Session Form before sitting down with your tutor.
2. You and your tutor will identify goals for the session and make a plan.
Her/his goal will be to spend the rest of the session helping you move forward in your writing process and leave with a clear idea of what to do next.
4. At the end of the session, your tutor will complete the Session Form with a note about what you accomplished and your next steps.
5. Before leaving, you will be asked to complete a short Evaluation of your experience.
F.O.D.S.
Unless you ask us to do something else specifically, we will generally address the following topics in this order:
FOCUS:
Do you understand what you are supposed to write about?
Do you know what you want to say and who your audience is?
Are your topic and purpose clear and consistent from beginning to end?
ORGANIZATION:
Are your ideas presented in a logical order?
Do you use meaningful transitions?
DEVELOPMENT:
Do you fully support and explain your ideas?
Do your examples and commentary truly support your point?
STYLE:
Does your work follow formatting and language conventions?
Are your word choices and sentence structures clear and effective?
Is the voice in the writing yours, and is it appropriate for the task?
WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT
TUTORS DO
Ask you many questions
to get you to clarify or expand your own ideas
Point out areas for improvement,
suggest strategies for addressing them,
and point you to resources that you can take with you
Try to help you be a more effective, confident, independent writer
TUTORS DO NOT
Tell you what to write
Fix it for you
Guarantee that you will get an A
HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT OF YOUR TIME WITH THE TUTOR
Plan ahead and come prepared.
25 minutes isn't that long. Don't spend half of it looking for a piece of paper.
Make an appointment and show up on time.
You are probably not the only one who procrastinated, and there might not be enough tutors to go around.
Remember that writing is a process.
And it can be messy. The only way to get to the end is to go through the middle, so be patient, be strong and WRITE ON!
Be honest.
We want you to have a good experience and we want you to come back.
Aim to become a better writer, not just to write a better paper.
No matter what you are writing, it's just one assignment. But your brain and your ability to use it travel with you, so every assignment is an opportunity to grow.
Be humble and brave.
It can be hard to let other people read your writing. It's personal. And it could probably be better. Be open to new ideas, and don't worry. No one gets everything right the first time.
Be Kind.
Tutors are human too, and like you, they are still learning and becoming better writers all the time. They won't have all the answers, but they will give you their best every time.
It's YOUR paper.
No matter what anyone tells you about it, you make the final decisions about what to say and how to say it.