Services

De Anza students from all types of classes come to get help with any aspect of their reading and/or writing. Mostly we serve under-prepared native and non-native students who need extra help with their writing, but we also help students working on essays/assignments from any dicipline/course and college applicants working on their personal statement essays. Because of this wide range of backgrounds and skills, our tutors have learned to "shift gears" easily and to be sensitive to all cultures, ages, and learning styles.

Why visit to the Writing and Reading Center?

• My paper is pretty good, but I want it to be excellent.
• I get confused and lost doing the course reading.
• I'd like to try out my ideas with other students.
• I need more ideas to make my paper worth reading.
• I want a drop-in tutor for some quick help.
• I want to meet with my own weekly tutor.

Who uses the Writing and Reading Center?

• Faculty and classes who want to use our pod casting room to create a pod cast.
• All DeAnza students and faculty working on writing and reading projects and assignments.
• Readers and writers in the community at large.

What kind of help do the Tutors provide?

We specifically provide one on one tutoring on a drop-in or appointment basis for students seeking help with their writing. We try to make it very clear to the student that we are not an editing service in which we correct the writing and give it back. Our job is to help the students learn how to revise and edit for themselves. Tutors aim to help the student become proactive in his/her learning by asking students questions like "What do you want to work on today?" "What do you think are your strengths?" "What are your weaknesses?" "How do you think this paper could be better?" Tutors can also help students work on essay organization and thesis/idea development. When helping students read over a draft, a tutor can also point out some issues to work on in one paragraph and ask the student to address those same issues that will probably reappear in subsequent paragraphs.

We also encourage faculty to hold their office hours in the WRC, which means that their students come specifically to seek help from them. Therefore, you may see students waiting to meet with their instructors.

What happens when there are more students waiting than tutors to help?

The WRC is like traffic - rather unpredictable. Sometimes it will be empty; sometimes it will be 20 students deep. When there are many people waiting, we try to limit students to 30 minutes with a tutor. If possible, the tutor can review something with the student and have them do further work on it independently while the tutor helps another student. When students arrive at the WRC, they enter their student ID number (which goes into a security-protected system) in our sign-in computer and sign their name on a waiting list. When a tutor finishes working with a student, he/she will help the next student on the list of waiting students.

What is the Attitude in the WRC?

Many students coming to the WRC are vulnerable and concerned about their writing. Our job is to make them feel as welcome and comfortable in the tutoring process as possible. We encourage greeting students with a smile and an introduction, exchanging names and asking the students how we can help. We also want to make sure our tutors are treated with the same respect and hospitality. In a very high volume time, a tutor is doing very intensive work with a number of students.

What else happens in the WRC besides tutoring?

Each week we try to have faculty volunteers provide a 50 minute workshop on a variety of writing/reading topics from basic sentence level skills to poetry writing. Faculty who volunteer their time to lead a workshop/event (these have included things like tribute/celebration of writer's birthdays) can earn professional development credit.

We also hold guest speaker events periodically, which are free, open to the whole campus and community. In addition, student writing groups and clubs have met here regularly to encourage and share their love enthusiasm for writing and collaborative work.

The WRC has eight iMac computers with internet access and a printer available for student and faculty use (printing costs $.10/page).

All in all, we are a growing center that is continuing to find ways to celebrate and encourage success and passion for language and communication. If you have any ideas for workshops or other things that you think would be good for the WRC, please feel free to propose them.