Please DO expect our tutors to . . .

• Our tutors are AVC students who are experienced writers. They are also trained to be analytical, yet respectful readers of your writing. That means they’ll provide you with straightforward, useful comments as supportively as they can.
  
• Offer suggestions to help you at any stage of the writing process, from coming up with ideas to polishing final drafts.

Suggestions, not solutions; possibilities, not proofreading.

• Help you improve your writing skills by caring more about the principles of good writing than about specific assignments.

Please remember that our goal is to help you become a better writer, not just to assist you with specific assignments. That’s why we try to help you learn the principles underlying good writing, principles you can then apply on your own to any writing task. Let’s work together to help you become a more skilled and more independent writer.

Please do NOT expect our tutors to . . .

• Our purpose isn’t to write or fix your papers for you; we are not a repair shop. We’re here to help you develop your writing skills and improve your own papers. Learning to write well is hard work, and the work must be done by you.

• Your grades are your responsibility; however, we’ll do our best to help you learn the principles of good writing. As you practice applying these principles and your writing improves, your grades will probably improve, too, but we cannot guarantee it.

• If you are unhappy with a grade or if you have a question about a comment an instructor has made in class or on a paper, please speak directly to him or her about it. Also, if you are unclear about the requirements for a particular assignment, please ask your instructor for clarification.