WSP Program Info Site - Tutor Session #2

Writing Tutoring Session 2

The second Writing Tutoring session builds on what students learned during the Writing Workshop on academic essay structure, thesis development, and argumentation. Tutors then have students sign up for 15-minute time slots in which students can receive feedback on how they are making a contribution to the conversation (i.e., I Say). Students also work on applying what they learned about essay structure and thesis development to sketch out a possible organizational structure to their essays. Like in Session 1, Tutors ask students to set one reachable writing goal for the evening.

Learning Objectives

Understand the value and importance of receiving feedback and asking for support
Articulate one writing goal to achieve by the end of the session
Summarize feedback received from Tutors
Apply feedback to individual writing
(See Writing Workshop one-pager for Unit 2 for learning objectives related to the assignment)

Readings

Below are required readings that students complete the night before and discuss in their study groups with fellows and in a seminar with faculty. Students also have the newest edition (6th) of They Say/I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing, so tutors should use this text to explain conventions of academic writing as applicable.

Tocqueville, Alexis de. Democracy in America. Translated by Harvey C. Mansfield and Delba Winthrop.

Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2000. (pp. 105-110, 113-115, 118-124, 130-133, 143-154).

Madison, James. “Federalist No. 10”

U.S. Constitution

What Students Know

Students will have attended a seminar in the morning titled, The Constitutional Framework, during which they will have discussed the above readings. They will have attended a three-hour Writing Workshop in which they will have focused on the fundamentals of academic argumentative essay writing, practicing analytical reading strategies to identify key parts in the texts that can be used in the essay, generating a draft argumentative statement, sketching out a preliminary essay structure, and articulating the importance of making evidence-based claims

Your Role

Writing Tutors provide a core service in our academic boot camps by ensuring that WSP participants feel comfortable and confident in academic writing, including asking for support with their writing. Your role is, ultimately, to be yourself; to share your expertise with participants and to run the class like you would with traditional college students. We highly encourage you to find ways to connect with participants and to share any advice you have for them as they transition from military service to higher education.

Note: The following are broad guidelines and not meant to be prescriptive. All units are flexible so that faculty can teach to their expertise and highlight important and interesting aspects of their work. Keep in mind the reading that students will have done for the day.