At the Academic Support Center, we help students with their questions and concerns about classwork, essays, academic expectations, and study skills. Most of our work is done one-on-one, in person, in conversation about what your needs as a student are, and some of our work is done in small group sessions.
We also offer support in other formats: online, supplemental instruction, and dedicated study sessions. Find more information about each of these formats below.
During a typical tutoring session, you and the tutor will sit at a table and have a conversation about your homework, project, or essay. The tutor will ask you if there is anything in particular that you would like to focus on or might need help improving. If you have any notes from your professor, you'll want to bring them to the table. You and your tutor will discuss any issues or questions, and the tutor will help you recognize your strengths and weaknesses to help you focus your work away from the Center.
We have a few special rules for writing sessions that students who haven't been in for a few semesters might be unfamiliar with. First, we will not read papers that are dropped off, and the tutors won't work as editors to fix your grammar or sentence errors for you. Instead, tutors will explain issues of grammar and punctuation as the need arises in your essay, with the goal of teaching you how to spot and correct your own errors on that text and future pieces of writing. Second, in writing sessions, you or the tutor will read the piece of writing aloud. This technique helps you hear your own errors, and you'll be shocked at how many mistakes you catch yourself, allowing you and your tutor more time to work on concerns that aren't so easily "fixed."
We are working to improve our online tutoring offerings, but currently, tutors hold online sessions through Google Docs or through Zoom, depending on the discipline. When using Google Docs, students have the option of communicating with their tutors through chat or over the phone (we will provide a phone number). Online sessions are synchronous, meaning that students and tutors meet at the same time, just at different locations. Online tutoring is by appointment only. Currently, we offer online tutoring sessions for writing and some science classes.
In a supplemental instruction session, a tutor holds a study session for students in a specific section of a class. The tutor has been attending the class alongside the students and has usually met with the instructor about the topics in which students are likely to need extra help.
If you're in a class that has supplemental instruction, you can attend any of the supplemental instruction sessions held for your class section.
For a handful of math and science classes, tutors anticipate a high number of students coming with the same questions. For these classes, tutors hold what we call dedicated drop-in study sessions, when a tutor sets aside an hour for a group tutoring/study session for students in a specific course.
When the new dedicated study sessions are scheduled for the semester, we'll post the schedule here.