English & Reading Departments TUTORING & GRAMMAR

Click on the links below, or scroll down.

Are you ready for college?  Do you know what it involves?  Click here for a link to a "College Readiness" brochure. 

        Students in any class may receive help with their classes from tutoring services free of charge.  Students with papers--whether from an English class or from any other class--may receive writing help from two types of writing tutors.  

        The IHCC Writing Center offers individual help from tutors who are among the best in the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system.  Our Writing Center tutors are so excellent because they are better trained, more highly educated, and better paid than most writing center tutors in the state universities or other community colleges.  The quality of our tutors exemplifies Inver Hills College's strong commitment to helping students learn how to write well in composition, literature, and any other class with a writing assignment.

        The IHCC Tutoring Center also offers excellent help to students in a wide variety of courses.  At the Tutoring Center, students who have excelled in IHCC courses offer their tutoring help to other students in those same courses.

INVER HILLS COLLEGE WRITING CENTER:   http://www.inverhills.edu/StudentResources/LearningCenter/writingcenter.aspx

Location: Library, Second Floor
Telephone: 651-450-8598

The Writing Center offers students individual tutoring in every phase of the writing process, from generating ideas to drafting and editing a paper to documenting sources. We also guide students' use of computers to enhance their writing efforts. The Writing Center can benefit students in all levels of writing and in all subjects (biology, sociology, art, psychology, law enforcement, etc.). Even the most accomplished novelists need feedback from other people to develop their writing to its fullest.

Staff

Keith Richter is the Director of the Writing Center.  it is staffed by a mix of experienced writers and teachers of writing.  Additionally, student tutors put in regular hours, and faculty members occasionally make themselves available to help students. See the list of staff members to learn more about their backgrounds and beliefs.

Access to the Writing Center, staff, resources

You can get assistance at the Writing Center in three ways: walk-in conference, conference by appointment, and online submissions (availability limited--see the Writing Center Web page for schedule).

Using the Writing Center

Below are some guidelines to help make your visits to the Writing Center more effective.

1. Plan before coming to the Writing Center: Bring your ideas and/or drafts to the Center early in the process, not the day before the paper is due. Plan to come to the Center more than once, particularly if you have a lot of problems with grammar.
              
2. Come to the Writing Center prepared: Bring your ideas, drafts, or prewriting. Bring your textbook(s). Bring your assignment sheet or notes about the requirements for the assignment.
   Bring any other relevant notes and be ready to actively participate in the writing conference.
                  
3. Have realistic expectations about what the Writing Center can do for you: Expect to take an active, participatory role in the tutoring conference.
   Expect that the conference will last no more than 30 minutes.
   Expect to address higher order concerns like organization, development, and logic early in the process.
   Expect to address lower order, sentence-level concerns like grammar and punctuation later in the process.
   Do not expect that every problem in a paper will be addressed. Tutors will focus on patterns of errors that you can realistically learn to correct in the time available.
   Do not expect the tutor to "fix" the paper for you.
   Do not expect that going to the Writing Center guarantees you will get an “A.”
   Do not expect to leave your paper with staff to be proofread and/or commented on in your absence.

E-mail Tutoring

Sometimes the Center provides tutoring by email to all students. Check the Web site to see if email tutoring is open.

Quick Question

If you have a quick question (that is brief and just one item) about writing, go to IHCC WC's "Quick Question" for examples and a web form that you can complete and submit.

More Online Tutoring Links

Visit the Writing Center's "Online Tutoring Links," too, for more great resources available to you from other institutions and organizations.

Frequently Asked Questions

For answers to typical questions and details about how to work with a tutor, see the Center's FAQs page.

Smarthinking Online Tutoring

Smarthinking is an online tutoring service Inver Hills CC is making available for ALL students to use from both on and off campus. You can get live, online tutoring, as well as reviews and comments about essays and reports.

With Smarthinking, you can...

• Connect With an e-structor and interact with a live tutor.

• Submit your Writing for any class to our Online Writing Lab.

• Submit a Question and receive a reply from a tutor.

Using the service requires the following:

• Internet access (campus network, dial-up, cable modem, DSL, etc.)

• A computer and web browser that meet the technical requirements

• Some practice using the Smarthinking whiteboard tools

• Your campus network username and password

Getting Help

A Smarthinking Student Handbook (pdf) is available for your reference.

The Customer Support section of the Smarthinking site can answer many questions you may have about using the service and help sorting out any technical problems you may experience. First check the information in the FAQ. If you still have problems you can e-mail or call their technical support department toll-free at (888-430-7429 ext 4).

Using Smarthinking

1. Know your Inver Hills CC network (I-NET) username and password; you will use those credentials to gain access to Smarthinking. If you don't have your I-NET username and password, visit http://www.inverhills.edu/accounts.
2. Open the page at https://info.inverhills.mnscu.edu/smartthinking/smartthinking.aspx.
3. Enter your campus network username and password.
4. Follow the on-screen instructions and prompts to use the various tools and services provided.
5. Check out the tutorials and demonstrations on the Smarthinking site to show you how to use the various Smarthinking tools.

IHCC TUTORING CENTER:    http://depts.inverhills.edu/TutoringCenter/

What is tutoring?

Tutoring is a free service that provides Inver Hills students with scheduled academic assistance.  Tutoring is available for most classes which are taught on campus and is used by students of all abilities. Tutoring is available to every Inver Hills CC student, regardless of their achievement level.

Tutoring services are provided through a peer tutoring model and through the Smarthinking online tutoring service.

Peer tutoring services are available beginning the second week of the semester and any time throughout the semester until one week before final exams are scheduled.

How can I get tutored?

First, complete a Tutor Request form either online or at the Peer Tutoring office. It is important that you consider your other obligations when indicating the times you have available for tutoring.

Second, check the bulletin board in the Tutoring Center on a daily basis for your appointment slip. Your appointment will be posted on the bulletin board and an e-mail message will be sent to you. We will not telephone you with your appointment information. Check the bulletin board and your e-mail.

Third, be prompt and show up for your appointments or make alternate arrangements in advance.

Who are the tutors?

A peer tutor is a student who has already excelled in the course they tutor. Tutors are chosen for their academic and interpersonal skills. They are trained to be tutors. Their instructor has also recommended them for consideration as a tutor.

Where is the Tutoring Center?

The Tutoring Center is located in the Learning Center on the second floor of the Library Building.

Who do I contact for more information?

LouAnn Oppitz, Peer Tutoring Coordinator
Library Building, Room 244
Office hours: Mon-Thur, 8am - 3pm and Fri: 8am - Noon
Phone: (651) 450-8693
loppitz@inverhills.edu

ONLINE GRAMMAR BOOKS

Elements of Style by Strunk
          
Grammar, Punctuation, and Capitalization by Mary McCaskill (NASA)  
          
Online Grammar Handbook--www.onlinegrammar.org                                       

Purdue University Writing Center
                             

Return to top.
                                   

Date this page was most recently revised: 20 Aug. 2007