Bedford Guide for Writing Tutors » (4th Edition)

With more activities and exercises than ever before, this fifth edition of The Bedford Guide for Writing Tutors provides a concise and practical introduction to tutoring. Its nine chapters provide principles and strategies for working with diverse writers and assignments in a variety of contexts: college or high school, online or face-to-face, in the writing center and beyond.

Visit the companion Web site for The Bedford Handbook, Eighth Edition (hackerhandbooks.com/bedhandbook) to find additional tools for tutors and writers including handouts on common writing, grammar, and punctuation problems; documentation help; links to tutoring resources; and an annotated bibliography.

Preface for Writing Center Directors iii

Introduction for Tutors vii

1 The Writing Center as a Workplace 1

Professionalism toward the Writer 1

Professionalism toward Other Tutors 2

Professionalism toward Teachers 3

Exercises For Getting Started 4

Exercise 1A Keeping a Personal Tutoring Journal 4

Exercise 1B Participating in Discussion Forums 5

Exercise 1C Learning about Writing Center History 5

2 The Writing Process 6

A General Guide to Stages of the Writing Process 8

Prewriting 8

Writing 9

Revising and Editing 9

Stages of the Writing Process 10

Exercises For Exploring The Writing Process 11

Exercise 2A Comparing Writing Guides and Handbooks 11

Exercise 2B Teaching Writing 11

Exercise 2C Talking about the Writing Process 12

Exercise 2D Talking about the Writing Process at Your School 13

Exercises For Reflecting On Your Writing Process 13

Exercise 2E Reflecting on Writing 14

Exercise 2F Sharing Your Writing Process 15

Exercise 2G Reflecting on Being Tutored 16

3 Inside the Tutoring Session 17

Getting Started 17

Setting the Agenda 19

Three Effective,, Powerful Tools 21

Active Listening 22

A Note about Asking Questions 24

Facilitating 24

Silence and Wait Time 27

Wrapping Up a Session 28

The Many Hats Tutors Wear 28

The Ally 28

The Coach 29

The Commentator 29

The Collaborator 29

The Writing "Expert" 30

The Learner 30

The Counselor 31

When Is a Tutor Not a Tutor? 31

Exercises For Exploring The Roles Tutors Play 32

Exercise 3A Exploring Tutors' Roles 32

Exercise 3B Observing Tutors' and Writers' Body Language 32

Exercise 3C Observing Tutoring Sessions 32

Exercises For Practicing Tutoring Techniques 32

Exercise 3D Roie-Piaying the Tutoring Session 33

Tutor Observation Sheet 34

Exercise 3E Role-Playing Tutor Strategies in the Prewriting Stage 38

4 Helping Writers throughout the Writing Process 41

Prewriting 41

Finding and Exploring a Topic 41

Planning to Write 45

Working with a Text at a Computer 46

Writing, Revising, and Editing 48

Making Global Revisions 48

Saving Multiple Drafts 51

Making Sentence-Level Revisions 51

Editing for Grammar, Punctuation, and Mechanics 52

Using a Handbook 54

Coping with the Long Paper 54

Exercises For Using Writing References 56

Exercise 4A Exploring Prewriting Strategies 56

Exercise 4B Developing a Handout 56

Exercise 4C Working with Handbooks and Other References 56

5 The Writers You Tutor 58

Learning Styles 59

Some Helpful Strategies 60

Student Concerns 61

The Writer with Writing Anxiety 61

The Writer with Basic Writing Skills 63

The Second Language Writer 65

The Writer with a Learning Disability 70

The Adult Learner 71

Exercises For Reflecting On Tutoring Situations 72

Exercise 5A Reflecting on Writers' Concerns 72

Exercise 5B Reflecting on Your Own Writing Concerns 73

Exercise 5C Reflecting on Tutoring Techniques 73

Exercise 5D Learning from Scholarly Articles 73

Exercise 5E Learning from Students 73

6 Tutoring in a Digital Age 74

Online Tutoring 74

Synchronous Tutoring 75

Asynchronous Tutoring 76

Stock Response for Constructing Paragraphs 79

Online Writing Resources 81

Online Writing Labs 81

Online Writing Guides and Handbooks 81

Online Videos 82

Helping Writers Evaluate Online Sources 82

Exercises For Tutoring In A Digital Age 85

Exercise 6A Developing Advice Templates 85

Standardized Template 86

Exercise 6B The Challenges of Online Tutoring 85

Exercise 6C Creating Stock Responses 85

7 Helping Writers across the Curriculum 87

Research Papers 87

Lab Reports and Scientific Papers 88

Argument or Position Papers 90

Literature Papers 90

Book, Film, and Play Reviews 91

PowerPoint Presentations 92

Résumés (Traditional) 93

Résumés (Scannable) 95

Cover Letters 96

Essays of Application 97

8 Coping with Different Tutoring Situations 99

The Writer Who Comes at the Last Minute 99

The Unresponsive Writer 100

The Antagonistic Writer 101

The Writer Who Selects an Inappropriate Topic or Uses Offensive Language 102

The Writer Who Plagiarizes 102

The Writer with the "Perfect" Paper 105

The Writer with the Long Paper 105

Exercises For Coping With Different Tutoring Situations 106

Exercise 8A Role-Playing Different Tutoring Situations 106

Exercise 8B Reflecting on Different Tutoring Situations 110

9 Summing It All Up 111

Exercises For Developing Your Philosophy of Tutoring 112

Exercise 9A Reflecting on Your Tutoring 112

Exercise 9B Creating a Metaphor for Tutoring 113

Appendix A Tutors Ask . . . 115

Appendix B Tutors Talk: Evaluating What They Say 119

Appendix C Presenting at a Conference 121

Appendix D Outside Tutoring and Editing Jobs 124

Index 127