This document provides an orientation for tutors at a university writing center. It outlines policies and procedures for clocking in/out, greeting walk-ins and scheduling appointments, conducting tutoring sessions, using resources, completing forms, maintaining courtesy, filling out time cards, and cleaning up at the end of shifts. Tutors are instructed on complying with FERPA, focusing tutoring on revision not editing or proofreading, emailing professors after sessions, and maintaining professionalism.

1. WRITING CENTER ORIENTATION

2. TABLE OF CONTENTS
 FERPA Certification
 Clocking In and Signing In
 Walk-Ins & Scheduling Appointments
 What Should/Should Not Happen During Tutoring
 Resources
 Tutoring Sheets & E-mailing Professors
 Tutor Courtesy
 Time Cards
 Cleaning Up & Clocking Out

3. FERPA CERTIFICATION
 What is FERPA?
 The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.
 It “is designed to protect the privacy of students' education records and personally identifiable information… [and] spells
out the rights of students and the responsibilities of educational institutions.“
 You need to be recertified each year.
 To take the certification test, visit https://www.purdue.edu/em/webcert/status.cfm.

4. CLOCKING IN & SIGNING IN
 Unlock the Writing Center and flip the sign on our
door to “OPEN”.
 Dial 5598, wait for “Please enter the four digit
extension number followed by the pound sign,” and
then dial 5202# to go directly to the voicemail box.
 “This is (first name, last name) clocking in.”
 Make sure to speak CLEARLY and CONCISELY.
 Please clock in at your scheduled time. (Not 5
minutes before.)
 Also, please make sure to manually sign in.

5. WALK-INS & SCHEDULING APPOINTMENTS
 Always greet those seeking help with a “Hello” and
make sure to request that they sign in.
 When they are finished, ask what assignment they
will be working on.
 NOTE: If they are only using the Writing Center for
printing, then please inform them that there is a
10 PAGE LIMIT since our printer does not print on
both sides.
 For appointments, we have a specific folder to hold
student information.
 Make sure to NEATLY write down the student’s
name, e-mail, phone number, and the date/time he or
she would like to come in.
 Let the student know which tutor(s) will be available
at that time.
 As soon as the student leaves, make sure to e-mail
the student’s information to whoever will be
available during the tutoring session.
DO NOT SKIPTHIS STEP.

6. WHAT SHOULD/SHOULD NOT HAPPEN DURING TUTORING
SHOULD
 Take 15-20 minutes per assignment*
 Request the assignment’s rubric
 Help students REVISE–or improve ideas, evidence, and organization—
 What is the point, or thesis, of their paper? Is it clear? Does their evidence, or
support statements,/sub-claims back the thesis well?
 Does their paper follow the rubric guidelines?
 Does anything need to be developed more?
 Do the paragraphs need to be reordered within the paper?
 Do they have valid topic sentences/transitions?
 Check for formatting errors– title page, abstracts (if applicable),
headers/footers, citations, and works cited/bibliography (MLA,APA,
Chicago Style).
 Ask them about their writing
 What are they most concerned about?
 Where do they believe they have the most trouble?
 Have them read sentences/paragraphs out loud to catch grammar or
punctuation errors.
*Schedule other students in intervals if you are busy helping someone.
SHOULD NOT
 We do NOT edit every mistake
 Editing– what is done AFTER revision
 We can mention a spelling or punctuation error once or twice,
but it is our job to explain WHY the usage is incorrect and
HOW it can be changed in the future.
 We do NOT proofread
 Proofreading: final “sweep” of paper= final step of writing
process
 We do NOT write on papers
 We do NOT push students out of theWriting Center after a
tutoring session ends
 Let them edit their work in theWriting Center if they have
time!
 We do NOT distract tutors or students who are busy.
 We do NOT talk to tutors or students about others.
 By degrading others, you degradeYOURSELF!
 If there is a reoccurring issue, e-mail Dr.Vivian.

7. RESOURCES
 Purdue OWL (primary)
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/
 apastyle.org
 chicagomanualofstyle.org
 dictionary.com
 thesaurus.com
 PLUS Books found on our center table!

8. TUTORING SHEETS & E-MAILING PROFESSORS
 After EACH tutoring session, students should be
given the form below:
 Log into Groupwise using writingcenter as the
username and the current semester’s password.
 Use address book to find the correct professor.
 Follow the format below and describe the tutoring
session:

9. TUTOR COURTESY
 BE RESPECTFUL, BE CONSIDERATE, BE HONEST.
 Please rotate with each student who visits theWriting Center.
 Do NOT disrupt other tutors when they are helping students!
 Breaks should be 15 – 20 minutes long per 3 hours.
 NO personal calls in the Writing Center.
 If it’s urgent, then please take the call outside of the library.
 NO hot food in theWriting Center
 Bring snacks if you wish!
 In case of an emergency, please refer to the Emergency handbook found on our main desk! (Make sure to read through
this during the first week of the Writing Center being open.)

10. TIME CARDS
 Make sure that you fill out your time card accurately!
 Sign your time cards in ink as soon you complete
your first shift for the pay period.
 Time cards can be found in the first drawer of the silver
cabinet.
 Fill hours out in ink!
Partial Hours Are Recorded in 10ths
1 minute to 6 minutes– 0.1
7 minutes to 12 minutes– 0.2
13 minutes to 24 minutes– 0.3
19 minutes to 24 minutes– 0.4
25 minutes to 30 minutes– 0.5
31 minutes to 36 minutes– 0.6
37 minutes to 42 minutes– 0.7
43 minutes to 48 minutes– 0.8
49 minutes to 54 minutes– 0.9
55 minutes to 60 minutes– 1

11. CLEANING UP & CLOCKING OUT
 Grab your time card and fill out how many hours you
worked.
 Make sure to push chairs in and turn all of the computer
monitor’s off if your shift completes at the end of the day.
 Dial 5598, wait for “Please enter the four digit extension
number followed by the pound sign,” and then dial 5202# to
go directly to the voicemail box.
 “This is (first name, last name) clocking out.Thank you.”
 Change the time on our door to reflect when the next shift
begins and place it back on its hook.
 Lock the Writing Center with your assigned key.

12. THANK YOU AND GOOD LUCK!
COME TALK TO ME OR DR. VIVIAN WITH ANY CONCERNS!