Wheaton’s writing tutors are located in the Wallace Library, immediately to the left when entering from the main doors and next to the Scholar’s Lab. They are available Sunday through Thursday, 4-10 p.m. Appointments are not necessary; students can meet with a tutor on a walk-in basis. The Faculty Writing Associates located in the Oversized Art Corridor, however, do require appointments.
Writing tutors are students who were recommended for and have taken the Education 220: Introduction to Writing Tutoring class. As described by Professor Ruth Foley, who is the peer Writing Tutor Coordinator and one of the Faculty Writing Associates, “The peer writing tutors work with any student on campus, on any writing assignment, at any stage of the writing process. This means they can help with anything from talking through ideas for a paper, through looking at a final draft and anything in between.” Writing tutors can help with math and science papers as well.
The writing tutor FAQ posted on Wheaton’s website states that a “tutoring session is a conversation between the writer and the tutor.” Tutoring sessions are not about the tutor fixing what could be changed in an essay but, rather, both sides talking together and trying to understand the reasons a writer took certain actions, the way in which they planned out their essay or their decision to use a semicolon in a particular place, for example.
Overall, writing tutors aim to help create better writers, not simply a better paper. They focus on teaching knowledge and skills about writing while being able to explain grammatical issues and usages if needed.
Writing tutors can help with whatever a student needs in terms of a paper—that is, except to write the paper for them. “The peer tutors are an invaluable resource for students,” Professor Foley concluded, and those who have seen writing tutors would agree. College essays are unique, and even if a student has seen a writing tutor once, they easily can slip back into old habits. The writing tutors are here to continuously encourage and help students become their best writer.