Calling All Tutors

Explore this wonderful interactive site from Michigan State University on tips for writing analytical papers. In addition to letting us know what you think about the content and how helpful it is, or isn’t, to you, let us know what you think of this interactive format of the site design. In the next few weeks I will also be posting links to other higher education institutions’ writing across the curriculum (WAC) resources for your input. We are undertaking the project of revamping the look and feel of the CAE website, including adding more resources on writing across the curriculum for both faculty and students. We need your input as we undertake this project.

In the meantime, check out this interactive website from Michigan State University, and please post your comments. The site includes some wonderful interactive features as well as videos. Allow yourself a good 30 minutes to explore and absorb the information. ff you like, bookmark the site on your computer for future reference. Your responses are most welcomed. Thanks in advance. Judy

Getting Started: Analytical Writing in the Humanities
http://writing.msu.edu/interactive/humanities/menu.php

Helping Students to Paraphrase Effectively

Jess Scoppetta, Writing Center Coordinator shares: As tutors, we sometimes come across what I like to call "accidental plagiarism." It is not intentional or malicious, but plagiarism all the same and will carry the same consequences. Most "accidental plagiarism" is the result of students poorly integrating their source material. Yes, that's right - they are having trouble paraphrasing. When I discover this "accidental plagiarism" in a session, the example below of "good" and "bad" paraphrasing has helped me explain the concept to many a tutee. Hopefully, you will find it useful too!

The following is adapted from The Bedford Guide for College Writers:

Paraphrasing
Paraphrasing is restating the author’s ideas in your own words. The APA style encourages writers to paraphrase rather than directly quoting source material. A good paraphrase retains the organization, emphasis and details of the original phrasing, but not the language. For example:

Original: "In staging an ancient Greek tragedy today, most directors do not mask the actors.”

Too Close to the Original: Most directors, in staging an ancient Greek play today, do not mask the actors. THIS IS PLAGIARISM!

A Good Paraphrase: Few contemporary directors of Greek tragedy insist that their actors wear masks.

Steps to a Good Paraphrase:
Read the passage several times
Highlight main points and take notes
Put the original text away
Restate the ideas in your own words
Review to ensure your words are not too close to the original.

Tackling the Tutorial: Content Tutors Share Strategies

Tami Fagan, Assistant CAE Director shares:
For almost ten years, I taught high school English. Invariably, the response I got when I told a new acquaintance about my chosen profession, was something along the lines of, “Are you serious? I could never do that job.” People assume that standing in front of a classroom of 30 or more adolescents would be the stuff of nightmares, and many would prefer Chinese water torture to even a brief stint as a purveyor of knowledge in the American high school.
There is only one job that is harder: one-to-one tutoring.
Teaching takes skill, commitment, instinct, and intelligence. Tutoring takes all of the above plus the demonstration of the following within one hour or less, often multiple times per day:
· The ability to develop an instant rapport with a stranger
· The ability to develop a sense of confidence in a tutee
· The ability to criticize constructively without condescension
· The ability to quickly identify areas of weakness and provide a tutee with guidance accordingly
· The ability to understand how to differentiate between coaching a tutee and doing the work for her
· The ability to provide meaningful praise
· The ability to help a tutee develop new skills
· The ability to reduce a tutee’s frustration

In fact, this list is only partial. Tutoring takes an enormous degree of sustained energy; you are aware of this fact if you have felt drained after conducting several back-to-back tutorial sessions. Tutoring re quires that the tutor is always “on.” There is no down-time, as there might be within a regular classroom setting.

Because all tutors have unique strategies, skills, and approaches, let’s use this opportunity to share our ideas with other content tutors. Consider one or more of the following questions as you post this week:

1. How do you develop a positive rapport with a tutee?
2. How do you help a student alleviate frustration?
3. What tips do you have that would help other content tutors?

College Students Today

Dr. Auclair sent along this link to a YouTube video. Take a look, and post a comment. If you need help in posting a comment, see Judy or Jess.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o

Enjoy Grammar and Spelling

Kris Barnett, our renowned Writing Portfolio Coordinator, is on a mission to infuse the study of grammar with humor. Check out the site she invites you to tour, and post comments letting us know your reactions. Feel free to pass along the link to tutees and others:

https://webmail.sjc.edu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.misscellania.com/miss-cellania/2007/1/26/spelling-and-punctuation.html

Superduper Study Skills

It’s never too late to learn how to study in college. Take advantage of the Center for Academic Excellence’s Study Skills Coordinator, Joanne Ronalter. She can help you to read faster and comprehend more, enhance your listening and note taking capabilities, manage your time effectively, stay focused, reduce test taking anxiety, and organize a research paper. And, the list does not end there. So, all of you content tutors that have an opening in your schedule, take a walk to Joanne’s office and have a study skills tutorial. Just think about how much more you could help your students during a session if you have all of these skills.

If there is a study skill session you would like to have that I have not listed above, please send me a comment and I will set you up with an appointment.

Online Citation Magic

Online Help with Creating Documentation Citation

We need your help in finding and evaluating online citation makers. Here is the URL to one. Check it out, and let us know what you think. If you find other online citation makers, post the URL and your comments. Thanks.

http://citationmachine.net/

image from: www.press.umich.edu

Writing an Abstract

If you have an occasion to help a student write an abstract or need to write one yourself, you might find these online tip sheets helpful.

From George Mason University:

https://webmail.sjc.edu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.gmu.edu/departments/writingcenter/handouts/abstract.html

From University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
https://webmail.sjc.edu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/abstracts.html

Much thanks to Dr. Shyamala Raman for sending these resources along. Let us know if you find them helpful by posting a comment.

Image from Rodwell, G. F.: “South by East: Notes of Travel in Southern Europe” (1877), public domain, free to use in US, not copyrighted.

New Resources for Science Tutors and Writing Tutors

The CAE has added several new resources to its website for writing in the areas of biology, chemistry, and nutrition—thanks to the efforts of Bethany Plant. Please check out our new online handouts that Bethany has designed, and post some comments regarding their usefulness to you as a content or writing tutor. Feel free to distribute these resources to students. In addition, let them know they are easily available online by going the CAE website’s handout page and selecting the option for Content Area from our Online Handouts Table of Contents Page

Citing Sources in Biology, the CBE Format:
http://ww2.sjc.edu/PDF/CAE/Citing_Sources_in_Biology.pdf
Citing Sources n Chemistry, the ACS Style:
http://ww2.sjc.edu/PDF/CAE/Citing_Sources_in_Chemistry.pdf
Helpful Resources for Dietetic and Nutrition:
http://ww2.sjc.edu/PDF/CAE/Helpful_Resources_for_Writing_in_Dietetics_Nutrition.pdf
Helpful Tips and Resources for Writing in Biology and Chemistry:
http://ww2.sjc.edu/PDF/CAE/Writing_in_Biology.pdf

Image taken from www.stcnet.com

Graduate School Essays

From time to time, we are asked to help students with writing their essays for graduate school admissions. RPI offers online guidance. In addition, some of our tutors who graduate this May might be interested in the link for their own personal needs.

http://www.rpi.edu/web/writingcenter/gradapp.html

If you use the link to access information, post your response to let us know how useful you found the information.

Podcasting Improves Writing

Kim Kraner offers this blog to her CAE colleagues:

Have you considered using podcasts? Would you like to improve your writing? Visit the Grammar Girl website to download her award-winning podcast, which features quick and easy grammar how-to tips. Each podcast discusses a specific grammar topic, including such troubling issues as dangling prepositions, comma splices, when to use lay versus lie, and much more. If you don’t have a MP3 player or iPod, don’t despair. Her site also includes full transcripts of every episode.

http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/

from the site:
About Grammar Girl
"Grammar Girl provides short, friendly tips to improve your writing. Covering the grammar rules and word choice guidelines that can confound even the best writers, Grammar Girl makes complex grammar questions simple with memory tricks to help you recall and apply those troublesome grammar rules. Whether English is your first language or second language, Grammar Girl’s punctuation, style, and business tips will make you a better and more successful writer. Mignon Fogarty is the creator and host of Grammar Girl. Grammar Girl is a Quick and Dirty Tips podcast.
2007 Winner Best Education Podcast – Podcast Awards2007 Winner Favorite Audio Program – Podcast Peer Awards2006 Winner Best Education Podcast – Podcast Peer Awards
Mignon Fogarty Bio:
Mignon Fogarty is the creator of Grammar Girl and the founder and managing director of Quick and Dirty Tips. A magazine writer, technical writer, and entrepreneur, she has served as a senior editor and producer at a number of health and science web sites. She has a B.A. in English from the University of Washington in Seattle and an M.S. in biology from Stanford University.
Mignon believes that learning is fun, and the vast rules of grammar are wonderful fodder for lifelong study. She strives to be a friendly guide in the writing world. Her arch enemy is the evil Grammar Maven who inspires terror in the untrained and is neither friendly nor helpful."

After visiting the site, let Kim and all of us know what you think. Post your comments.

Psychology Resources Online

Amie Senland has sent along these links to psychology websites that she found helpful throughout her career at SJC. Her comments are included in her annotations of each site.

https://webmail.sjc.edu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.dialogical.net/psychology/
This is the WWW Virtual Library of Psychology websites. Some links are currently broken but there are many resources on this page, including online tutorials, self-quizzes in various areas of psychology.

https://webmail.sjc.edu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://psych.athabascau.ca/html/aupr/students.shtml
This is Athabascau University's Centre for Psychology Resources. This page has general psychology resources, along with career and graduate school advice. I specifically like the left-hand column, which provides even more links for specific areas within psychology, such as sensation and perception or developmental psychology. There are so many helpful psychology resources on this site.

If you visit these sites, please post your responses to them.

Clip art from http://www.pppst.com/

Tutor Training Ideas: Take a Peek

Take some time this week or next, as your schedule permits, to visit online the Darmouth College’s Academic Skills Center site on Learning Strategies: Maximize Your Academic Experience. There are tips on time management, reading college textbooks, identifying learning styles, and so forth. The site might help you excel as both a student and tutor. Let us know what you think after exploring the site. Post a comment. Feel free to use some of the resources with your tutees. Here is the link you need to explore.

http://www.dartmouth.edu/~acskills/success/index.html