We Can't Do The Work For You

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          As a tutor it has been incredibly difficult to refrain from grabbing a pencil and editing a student’s paper. Believe me, I want to. It is so much easier to read through a paper and tell someone what is wrong with it, than sit there and help someone come to their own conclusions. We can’t do that though. Many people don’t seem to understand that we can’t just fix their essays. But, why? Well, we tutors can’t just fix people’s work because our goal isn’t your good grade. Our goal as tutors is that each student walks away from a session with a little more knowledge about writing than they had before.
            When it comes to papers and writing, we genuinely care about your ideas. That’s the reason we ask questions and give tasks. Through these techniques, we are hoping to get the wheels turning in your head so that you can write things from your own perspective. Writing is a form of expression, so when we write, it needs to come from within ourselves. It is more important to get our ideas out there than to do what the teacher wants. Funny enough, though, that’s usually what the teacher wants. A person who reads a paper is looking to learn and understand the ideas that the writer has taken time to write down. Because of these ideas and the uniqueness that comes with each person’s work, our goal is to help students get those ideas on paper.
            Another reason we can’t just fix an essay is because we want people to learn how to become better writers. It is up to us as tutors to make sure you are understanding the reason behind every change we make together. This is also the reason why we leave tasks for students, because we want to make sure that you understood what went gone over. This center is a learning environment and we want to build you up to become better at writing.

            With all this in mind, I hope you can remember that tutors can’t do the work for the students. Our goal goes far beyond getting a good grade. Through working together and asking questions, we hope you can become a better writer and feel pride in your work.

Catalina Chicas, FCC Student, WRC Tutor


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