In my short time as a tutor I have seen many people visit the writing center with various motives. Some were there of their own accord, seeking advice on how to better their writing. Some were there to use a computer. And some were there because it was part of their assignment, they were forced. In some of the latter instances students did not benefit from their writing center experience. This unfortunate result was because the student was unwilling to participate in the tutoring session. These students were just there for the grade. They never had any questions. They made notes on their paper only because of persistent insistence on my part and in some cases even argued with my suggestions. It was a pretty unnecessarily painful experience for both of us considering the tutoring session points were probably minimal compared to the total points of the assignment. Tutoring should not be this way.

On the other hand, I have seen those students who were forced to come to tutoring to fulfill a portion of an assignment and leave with a huge smile on their face, stating it had not been as bad as they had anticipated, and swearing to be back for their next assignment. This is everyone’s ideal tutoring experience. Having experienced these two situations myself, it makes me wonder whether or not the second scenario would be possible without the first.

If students were not at some point forced to come to tutoring would writing centers be a necessary part of Universities? Would students do as well on their writing assignments if writing centers did not exist? Would students be happier without assignments that forced them to visit the writing center? Would students who struggle with writing still come to the writing center if it was not assigned? And lastly, why should tutors be the ones receiving the brunt of the student’s frustration because they have to be in the writing center? These are some very intriguing questions that deserve further examination on my part.

For this reason I am considering doing my bibliographic essay on assigned tutoring and the issues that go along with it. In doing this project i hope to uncover the many sides of this difficult issue, and gain a greater understanding of the reasons writing centers function the way they do. Since this issue surfaces some of my most perplexing questions regarding tutoring, I hope to be able understand more fully the benefits of assigned tutoring. Hopefully understanding this issue better will allow me to appreciate these sessions, which will allow me to become a better tutor because these situations involve engaging reluctant writers.

I think that participating in tutoring should be the student’s choice, but since in this essay my opinion does not matter I hope to find plenty of information supporting my views as well as plenty of information that disproves them also. After all this is college, right? If students need help they should be responsible enough to seek it themselves, right? Perhaps this is not the case and therefore there is a huge need for required tutoring assignments.