Summary

  
        The reading for this week focused primarily on both generalist and specialist tutor styles in the writing center; what they are and how they can affect a tutor's ability to instruct effectively. Our other reading served mainly to provide a list of tips on how to go about writing, including: examples of how to get started, how to make your writing more intricate, and how to get past the surface level of writing (spelling, grammar, etc.). While the latter reading presents a helpful tool for new writers, I believe that the prior reading, that which focused on generalist and specialist tutors, deserves the most summary. To elaborate on these styles, a generalist tutor is one who knows little to nothing about the materials, terms, etc. outside of his/her major, but instead asks leading questions in an indirect tutoring style. This helps them treat the student as the expert of their work and avoid taking control of their paper. Specialist tutors are quite the opposite; they deal with specific terminology/material for particular majors and are able to help students answer in depth questions that a generalist tutor wouldn't be able to understand or have a means of answering. However, while this is a con for generalist tutors, specialist tutors may also find themselves becoming too assured of what is right and what is wrong in a student's paper, thereby ruining the discourse by taking the place of expert over the student's paper. 

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        This reading, that which was in the textbook and the primary discussion for this post, provided further information on two styles that I already knew existed within the writing center. Overall, I believe that the generalist tutoring style is stronger and more ethically sound than specialist. My reasoning stems primarily from the idea that tutors should try and have a hands-off approach to instructing students, so that they don't write their papers for them. This can include simple suggestions on what goes in a paper. If someone is a tutor that specializes in a particular major, and the tutee is aware of this, they will inherently treat that tutor as the expert and take what they say over the student's own ideas. This can be heard from students as, "Well, I was gonna say something, but you'll probably tell me it's dumb." This kind of self doubting language is quite common when students don't feel they are the experts of their own work. To close out this discussion, I am curious to ask: despite my own assertion that suggestions can be too intrusive a tutoring style, is it necessarily unethical? Is there a limit or a line that tutors should not cross or be aware of when giving these suggestions?

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