Peer Tutoring

Are you an undergraduate who is a good writer and student? Would you like the challenge and responsibility of being a tutor and helping other students with their writing? Are you interested in learning how to research and present scholarly projects?

If so, please consider our peer-tutoring program.

The peer-tutoring program is an important part of our educational mission as a university-based writing center. The program offers undergraduates the opportunity to work closely over the long term with Writing Center faculty and graduate students who are deeply interested in writing and teaching. The mentoring, support, and education peer tutors receive can be a powerful part of their learning experience in college. In addition, peer tutors get to interact with a range of students who visit the Writing Center and they learn a lot about their own writing process. They learn about effective teaching and have the satisfaction of helping people who are usually very grateful. Many of the peer tutors also value the experience they get as scholars who develop research projects and then present them to the Writing Center staff or at national conferences. Our peer tutors have gone on to become high school or college teachers, editors, writers, and lawyers, among other professions.

The first step in becoming a peer tutor is to take Tutoring for Peer Writers, ENGCMP 1210, which is offered every fall.

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.

After students take 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, and either substantially revise their research paper from the course or draft a new research paper. 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.

 Our peer tutors have contributed in significant ways to the culture and effectiveness of the Writing Center. We welcome students who are interested in pursuing this opportunity. If you have any questions, please contact Angie Farkas, who teaches the Tutoring Peer Writers class.