Undergraduate Peer Tutors are essential to the work of the Writing Center, and they contribute substantially to the life of the Writing Center. The Writing Center is excited to welcome new and interested students to learn more about becoming a Peer Tutor!
Are you an undergraduate student who is...
- Invested in developing your own writing skills?
- Curious about teaching and mentoring?
- Interested in learning how to research and present scholarly work?
- Excited about working closely with faculty and students in a welcoming, professional context?
If so, please consider joining the Peer Tutor Program at Pitt's Writing Center.
How to become a Peer Tutor
- 1. Enroll in ENGCOMP 1210: Tutoring Peer Writers
The Tutoring Peer Writers course prepares students to be effective tutors for peer writers by introducing them to issues and scholarship in teaching, writing, and working as a tutor. The course is appropriate for students from any discipline who are interested in careers in teaching or who recognize the importance and difficulty of responding well to drafts written by others. The course is a prerequisite for those students who wish to intern or work as peer tutors in the Writing Center.
You must have earned a B letter grade or higher in ENGCMP 0200 in order to register for ENGCMP 1210.
- 2. Enroll in Peer Tutor Internship
After students successfully complete ENGCMP 1210, they may apply to become peer interns. If accepted, they register for a one-term internship and get three credits. They tutor for five hours a week, work with a faculty mentor, attend weekly meetings, read further scholarship on composition or writing center theory, revise their research from ENGCOMP1210 into a poster presentation, and present at the annual Undergraduate Peer Tutor Research Symposium.
You can learn more about the Undergraduate Peer Tutor Research Symposium here.
- 3. Apply for the Peer Tutor position
After the internship and until they graduate, peer tutors may apply to work in the Writing Center for up to 11.5 hours a week (a one and a half hour meeting and up to 10 hours of tutoring) at an hourly rate that exceeds minimum wage.
If you have any questions, please contact the Writing Center Associate Director Dana Nowlin-Russell, who teaches the Tutoring Peer Writers class.