Every Sunday through Thursday from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. the Writing Center will assign one to two tutors to work their Flash Tutoring program. (Ryan Adams/Flickr Creative Commons)
A fast-approaching finals week is looming over us all, and April brings the stresses of an almost-over school year. Professors are getting ready to assign the last bunch of hefty assignments, and for some reason they all seem to do it at the same time. Thankfully, with the Writing Center’s newly implemented “Flash Tutoring,” students are able to receive answers to their questions in a matter of moments.
We’ve all been there: You just wrote a below-average research paper and need the expertise of the beloved Writing Center tutors. Here to help us through all of our literary struggles, tutoring sessions offer insight and help with any problem. Whether it be Chicago style citations or grammatical errors, a tutor can walk you through every step. These regular sessions last 45 minutes and include a personalized note that goes into detail of what was covered during the appointment. However, not everyone has the ability to commit a full hour to a tutoring session. With the new Flash Tutoring concept, a student is able to quickly stop by the W-Center and have their questions answered in a matter of minutes.
Every Sunday through Thursday from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. the Writing Center will assign one to two tutors to work their Flash Tutoring program. Essentially, these are drop-in hours where you can be helped by a tutor for 5-10 minutes. Jonelle Reynolds, assistant director of the Writing Center and graduate student on her way to receiving a PhD in human development and family studies, explains Flash Tutoring’s mission as “helping as many students get quick answers to their problems that don’t require them to have a 45-minute session.”
No appointments can be made for Flash Tutoring and it will be strictly on a first-come first-serve basis. While you are welcome to stay in the W-Center to work on your assignment, it is important to understand that Flash Tutoring can only be used for quick interactions. If a student ends up needing more time with a tutor, the receptionist will aid in making an appointment for the next available time slot.
Due to Flash Tutoring being offered every day the W-Center is open, students are given the freedom to choose at what point in their revising process they wish to visit. Reynolds believes it’s important for students to “plan as they are revising their papers and so on. They may have a list of questions … but it is important to finish your paper and then stop by in the evening.”
She explains how students are then able to show a tutor these questions, and if more time is needed they have the option to schedule an appointment or come back the next day. If Flash Tutoring were to only be offered select days out of the week, students would be forced to plan their visits ahead of time, resulting in a possibly unproductive session.
The Writing Center is a helpful tool that is at the students’ fingertips. Whether writing is your strength or not, you are encouraged to visit the Writing Center and further perfect your written assignments. After all, nothing negative can come out of a tutoring session.
Jordana Castelli is a campus correspondent for The Daily Campus. She can be reached via email at jordan.castelli@dailycampus.com.
