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WRITING TUTORS' GUIDE : HOME

Training and Reference for Good Library Student Writing Tutors

Ask a Librarian

Not finding what you need? Visit, chat, call, or email a librarian. We're here to help you succeed!

When classes are in session:

Mon-Fri. 10am - 12pm; 1-5pm; Sun-Thurs 5-9pm

  • make an appointment: Upswing 
  • chat: use the window on our homepage
  • by email: library@goshen.edu

AVOIDING PLAGIARISM

Plagiarism, or giving the impression that another's work is your own, is a violation of Goshen College's academic integrity policy. Consequences for individual offenses may range from re-doing the assignment to dismissal from the college. See the GC Commitment to Community Standards for more information about specific responses to academic dishonesty.

Six steps to effective paraphrasing, from the Purdue Online Writing Lab:

  1. Reread the original passage until you understand its full meaning.
  2. Set the original aside, and write your paraphrase on a note card.
  3. Jot down a few words to remind you later how you envision using this material.
  4. Check your rendition with the original to make sure that your version accurately expresses all the essential information in a new form.
  5. Use quotation marks to identify any unique term or phraseology you have borrowed exactly from the source.
  6. Record the source (including the page) on your note card so that you can credit it easily.

WHERE TO BEGIN?

1. Greet the patron.  What are we working on today? How can I help you?

2. Helping with the Writing Assignment. 

  • Be nonjudgmental about the patron's work; Maintain patron confidentiality
  • Check how much time you have 15, 30, or 60 minutes?
  • Where are they in the process? Idea development? Outlining? Researching? Rough Draft? Final Draft Review? 
    • Meet them where they are at and help them move forward one step at a time.
    • Let them know that they can always come back for another appointment with any tutor as they progress in their project.
  • Follow the checklist set in the Evaluating College Writing guide. (embed document here)
  • If the student has a draft document, they can share it with you by email or as an attachment in Upswing. If you type any suggested edits do so in "suggestion" mode and not in "edit" mode. Use comment bubbles to give feedback. Let the student to do their own typing so that they have final ownership over their writing. Also, explain the why of your suggestions.  

3. Researching for Sources. Often a student says they need help finding sources for their project. Make sure you know the professor's requirements for the types of sources. Does it need to be a scholarly source? Does it need to be peer-reviewed? How many sources?

  • Step One: Is there a Good Library subject guide for the class or the subject? These guides have been created by Good Library librarians to feature discipline specific resources available through the Good Library.
  • Step Two: Is Credo Reference a good choice for background research or definitions, dates, names and other facts? Credo is a legitimate, scholarly alternative to Wikipedia or "just Googling it" and they can generate citations for the facts that they use in their papers.
  • Step Three: EBSCO has 29 databases that contain academic articles, news articles and ebooks that can be discovered by searching by keywords or subject headings.  Here's a direct link to the database to get started searching; EBSCO.
  • Step Four: Google Scholar. Google Scholar is a good finding aid. It's a good fit when
    • it's a niche topic that's not in EBSCO
    • if you need to find a specific article; or
    • you are trying to "mine" an article for more related and similar sources.  

4. Helping with Citations

  • Use the manuals that are at the writing desk
  • Use the resources on the Citation Good Guide
  • Use Purdue Owl Citation Generator for the style of choice
  • Use the citation generator of the database where the article came from
  • Use the citation generator in Google Scholar 

5. Log the appointment in Upswing. 

  • The feedback does not have to be extensive but ideally you will list the class (ex. CORE 120) and a short description of what you worked on with the student. This allows the rest of the tutoring team to provide continuity in service to our patrons.
  • Here is an Upswing Tutor Onboarding Guide