Indiana University is a public research university located in Bloomington, Indiana. Founded in 1820, IU enrolls approximately 48,000 students across eight campuses located throughout the state. As one of the largest public universities in the nation, IU offers exceptional educational opportunities at the undergraduate, graduate, and professional level.
One such opportunity available to IU students is the Writing Tutorial Service (WTS). Operated out of the Sweetland Center for Writing, the WTS provides free one-on-one tutoring sessions to help undergraduate and graduate students at any stage of the writing process. Whether brainstorming a paper topic, organizing an essay, perfecting a thesis statement, or polishing a final draft, WTS tutors are trained to assist students with all types of academic writing assignments.
Located in the Wells Library building on IU Bloomington’s iconic Sample Gates campus, the WTS maintains daily drop-in hours as well as scheduled appointments during the fall and spring semesters. While primarily geared towards assisting students enrolled in IU courses, the service also welcomes members of the local Bloomington community who need extra help with a writing project. On average, WTS tutors conduct over 5,000 individual tutoring sessions each academic year, working with hundreds of students across all disciplines.
The goal of the WTS is to help students become more confident and independent writers through a collaborative tutorial process. Rather than simply proofreading or editing papers, tutors are trained to have thoughtful discussions with students about writing techniques and strategies. This includes exploring new approaches to a writing assignment, brainstorming effective arguments, organizing content logically, incorporating proper citation styles, and improving overall writing mechanics. By dialoguing with students one-on-one, tutors can identify individual strengths and weaknesses to design personalized feedback.
Specifically, tutoring sessions proceed as follows:
Students first introduce their assignment and discuss any particular challenges or goals for the session.
Tutors then ask open-ended questions to gain a better understanding of the student’s intended audience, purpose, and thesis.
Together, the tutor and student examine outlines, drafts, or other pre-writing materials to assess organizational structure and development of ideas.
Key points of feedback are discussed, such as improvements that could be made to arguments, evidence used, transitions between paragraphs, or overall flow.
Students are encouraged to take an active role in revising their work during sessions based on the tutorial conversation.
Before concluding, tutors and students outline an action plan for continued work on the assignment to apply feedback lessons moving forward.
The collaborative dialogue approach used by WTS tutors empowers students to learn from draft feedback rather than simply receiving superficial edits. Students gain important critical thinking and problem-solving skills that can be applied to future writing assignments across disciplines. Moreover, meeting regularly with a tutor helps build students’ self-efficacy and confidence as communicators through their college career and beyond.
In addition to one-on-one tutoring, the WTS also offers supplemental workshops each semester open to all IU students. Popular topics have included crafting effective thesis statements, incorporating research sources, organizing long research papers, improving sentence-level writing, and preparing for graduate or scholarship applications. The workshops allow the WTS to share general writing strategies with larger groups and still provide attendees opportunities to ask specific questions. Additional online resources through the WTS website include handouts, videos, and interactive modules on various writing skills.
A key strength of the IU WTS compared to similar services at other universities is the highly advanced training provided to all tutors. To be hired, candidates must have a minimum 3.5 GPA and complete one semester of intensive Foundations in Writing Center Theory and Practice taught through IU’s McNair Scholars Program. This allows tutors to learn foundational education theories and gain practicum experience before working independently with students. Most tutors also undergo supplemental training each semester on topics such as diversity, disability awareness, and assisting multilingual writers. Furthermore, tutors participate in weekly staff meetings to review recent sessions, discuss challenging client interactions, and share pedagogical insights.
This multilayered, ongoing tutor education program sets the WTS apart by ensuring every student receives the highest quality assistance. Supervisory staff also conduct occasional session observations and evaluations to provide tutors with individualized coaching opportunities. As a result, IU consistently maintains one of the strongest and most successful writing centers among peer institutions. Students benefit tremendously from the expertise offered as a result of the WTS’s commitment to highly skilled and critically reflective tutors.
One significant benefit of the WTS relates to IU’s diverse student population. Approximately 14% of Bloomington undergraduates are international students, while about 5% are domestic students of color. The WTS staff reflects similar diversity through intentional recruitment efforts. Moreover, all tutors engage in specialized training to better understand cross-cultural communication issues that often arise when assisting English language learners or students from different academic backgrounds. An inclusive and compassionate environment allows students from any background to feel respected and supported through the writing process. This is especially important considering the additional linguistic and cultural challenges often faced by underrepresented groups on predominantly white campuses.
Student evaluations and institutional data make clear the profound impact of WTS participation on academic success. On average, students who visit the WTS at least five times outperform their non-visiting peers by half of a full letter grade. Specifically, 48% of frequent WTS users earn As on assignments compared to only 25% of students who do not utilize tutoring. Retention rates are also 5-10% higher for first-year students who build relationships with tutors. These outcomes attest that the tutorial process not only improves individual writing skills but also fosters student engagement, achievement, and persistence over time.
The WTS implements assessment measures to ensure continuous enhancement of available resources. At the end of each semester, students complete anonymous exit surveys evaluating their satisfaction with tutoring sessions and ability to apply feedback. Tutors also submit reflective evaluations to supervisors. This data guides the identification of curriculum weaknesses and recommendations for tutor retraining. External program reviews occur every five years through IU’s “So Assess” system, incorporating student focus groups and tutor interviews. The latest review in 2019 praised the WTS for exemplary pedagogical approaches and recommended expansion to serve a greater volume and range of undergraduate needs.
The Writing Tutorial Service at Indiana University plays an invaluable role in developing strong writers and lifelong learners. Through personalized tutoring sessions, supplemental workshops, and highly trained staff, the WTS empowers students at every level to communicate effectively across academic disciplines and career fields. Nearly five decades after its founding, this pioneering university writing center continues innovating evidence-based practices that serve as a national model for student-centered support of the writing process. IU students are fortunate to benefit from the unparalleled resources and expertise furnished by the dedicated WTS team.
Andrew Stroud