2024-25 Writing Program applications will open
on Monday, April 1st.
The application deadline for all applications will be Friday, April 12th.
Lectors in Academic and Professional Writing
A lector is a graduate student who provides writing instruction in ENGL 13000/33000: Academic and Professional Writing—a.k.a. the “Little Red Schoolhouse,” our flagship advanced writing course for upper-year undergraduates and graduate students.
Who is eligible to lector?
Graduate students from ALL divisions and schools are eligible — and eagerly sought — for this position. Here’s why: LRS is geared toward 3rd- and 4th-year undergraduates of ALL major fields with a variety of professional goals, as well as graduate students in all divisions and professional schools. And the course attracts all of them, quarter after quarter. Our goal is to give all writers the principles of clear, reader-oriented writing that they can use in whatever fields they pursue. LRS small-group seminars, which are led by lectors, typically include students from a wide variety of fields (from philosophy to econ to bio to math) by design, because we believe this actually serves our pedagogical goals best. We’ve had lectors from Divinity, Anthropology, Comparative Human Development, Chemistry, all with great success.
What do Lectors do?
Lectors meet with approximately 7 students once a week in an 80-minute discussion section, or “seminar.” Students write a short paper each week, read each other’s work, and discuss them in the seminar. Lectors read the student’s papers, lead the seminar discussion, and write extensive critiques on the papers each week to reinforce the writing principles at work. Lectors also attend the weekly lecture that the students attend.
All Lectors start out leading seminars at the undergraduate level. Once they have had success there, they become eligible for to teach in the graduate sections of LRS. Lectors may also teach writing to first-years as a Humanities Writing Intern without taking an additional training course.
The LRS approach to writing is “reader-based,” which means that we teach students how to anticipate readers’ responses to their prose and how to tailor their prose to meet readers’ expectations. What kinds of readers? We’re geared to helping writers reach the academic and professional readers that they’ll be addressing in academia or in their professions after college. To do this, we teach principles of clear writing that build upon one another: we start with clear sentences, move on to paragraphs, and conclude at the level of the text as a whole.
When and how often do Lectors work?
Lectors are appointed quarterly, and LRS is offered every quarter of the academic year. In Winter and Spring, the course is offered for both graduates and undergraduates, so more sections are available. In Summer, fewer sections are offered, and in Autumn, only graduate students may register, which also reduces the number of available sections.
Once you’ve been accepted and completed training, your position will be renewable indefinitely pending satisfactory job performance, as well as pending section availability. We send out a work survey before each academic quarter asking if you are available to teach, until you tell us otherwise.
What kind of training is required?
One quarter of training in ENGL 50300: Principles of Teaching Writing, offered each Spring and Autumn quarter as a 9-week course that typically meets on Monday afternoons for both a small-group seminar and plenary lecture. Training is also offered in Summer Quarter as a 6-week intensive course.
The training course is unpaid, but trainees may choose to either take it for credit or to take it unofficially so as to avoid tuition chargers, depending on their funding status.
College Core Writing Tutors
Writing Tutors teach writing on a one-on-one basis, using our writing principles to guide students using non-directive pedagogical methods. Tutors work with undergrads on course papers in order to help improve students’ overall skills in academic argumentation and structure. The Writing Tutors are open to all undergraduates, but prioritize students writing for their Core courses. Students may schedule appointments in advance or drop in to wait for the next available tutor.
Who is eligible to tutor?
As with our other grad student positions, grad students from ALL divisions and schools are eligible to work as writing tutors. Applicants may either be hired and trained specifically as writing tutor, or they may be hired simultaneously as a Lector if they have successfully completed Lector training.
When and how often do Writing Tutors work?
Writing tutors are appointed quarterly. Rather than working within a course, writing tutors instead are available in weekly four-hour shifts in the North Reading Room of the Cathey Learning Center (accessed via the 3rd floor of Harper Memorial Library). We offer evening shifts Sunday-Thursday nights, as well as a few weekday shifts. The Core Writing Tutor program is open from Week 2 through the end of finals week in Autumn, Winter, and Spring. Tutors may work one or more shifts per week, depending on their availability and on student demand.
Once you’ve been accepted and completed training, your position will be renewable indefinitely pending satisfactory job performance, as well as pending shift availability. We send out a work survey before each academic quarter asking if you are available to teach, until you tell us otherwise.
What kinds of things do Writing Tutors do?
- Brainstorm on how to get started on a paper or how to best approach a paper assignment or prompt, particularly in terms of how to construct an argument.
- Read a full or partial draft of a paper and comment on its overall argumentation. This kind of comment can include, but is not limited to, logical flow of argument, effective uses of quotes and other types of evidence, persuasive placement of points, etc.
- Read a full or partial draft of a paper and comment on its organization, both globally and at the paragraph level.
- Spot patterns of grammatical errors in a student’s prose and teach the student how to identify and correct these patterns.
- Make suggestions for how to revise a paper for greater coherence, clarity, and persuasiveness of argument.
What kind of training is required?
One quarter of training in HUMA 50000: Pedagogies of Writing (or ENGL 50300), offered Spring quarter (as a 9-week course that meets in one small-group seminar and one lecture per week) or Summer Quarter (as a 6-week course). The training course is unpaid, but trainees may choose to either take it for credit or to take it unofficially so as to avoid tuition charges, depending on their funding status.