Well-informed by contemporary theory, the essays in this collection touch on important but often neglected aspects of writing center tutoring, from dealing with emotionally-charged topics, to engaging diffident writers, to working with students on thorny grammatical and stylistic problems.

—Russel K. Durst

If you’re a writing tutor, here’s a way to take everyday events in your tutoring sessions and connect them to good theory and practice. The aim of this book is not to provide pat answers, but to help you think through problems and gather new perspectives on them. It lets you listen in on the professional conversation that surrounds writing center practices. It also offers concrete suggestions and things to think about for the next tutoring session.

Every one of the authors contributing essays to A Tutor’s Guide is now or has recently worked in a writing center. They are the voices of writers and teachers. Each author focuses on a problem or concern you are likely to encounter in your tutorial sessions, such as where to begin the session, how to work with reluctant students, and how to help writers organize and proofread their papers. These authors meet you near the front line, pull you back about fifty feet, and help you see how you might frame a problem as part of a larger conversation about tutoring, teaching, learning, and writing. They believe—based on their years of experience—that this conversation is the path to discovering new knowledge about writing and yourself; and this is what makes working in writing centers an integral part of your education.