Writing Tutor | English Language Institute

ESL / EAL College Core Writing Tutor

The English Language Institute offers a Writing Tutor for University of Chicago College Core students with ESL/EAL needs.

UChicago GRAD now offers a Writing Tutor for Graduate Students.

The ESL/EAL College Core Writing Tutor is affiliated with the Writing Program.

College Core Students

UChicago College Core students can make an appointment.

The day of the tutoring session, the tutor will email the Zoom link and will ask for a copy of your writing.

Once the session begins, you have 5 minutes to join the Zoom call. If you do not join the Zoom call after 5 minutes have passed, the tutor will mark you as a No-Show, and then they will invite people off the Drop-In List to take your spot.

Cost: Free

Location: Online via Zoom

Book an Appointment

Non-College Core Affiliates

NOTE: The Drop-In List opens 30 minutes before the tutor’s shift begins

UChicago Non-College Core affiliates (other undergraduates, grad students, postdocs, etc.) can sign up to get on the Drop-In List.

During scheduled tutoring hours, the tutor will email people on the Drop-In List if there is no appointment scheduled or if there is a No-Show. You have 5 minutes to join the Zoom call once they email you, so please monitor your email.

Cost: Free

Location: Online via Zoom

Get on the Drop-In List

The tutoring queue can be seen here: [link]

Example screenshot of student in queue

Example screenshot of no students in queue

Tutoring Rules

NOTE: The Writing Tutor is not permitted to edit/proofread student work directly, but can identify issues or patterns of error. The tutor also may not review more than 10 pages of text (Times New Roman font, size 12, double-spaced) in a session.

The ESL/EAL College Core Writing Tutor can:

Discuss the specifications of an upcoming writing assignment
Assist in selecting the appropriate wording/phrasing
Identify patterns of error in grammar and punctuation
Provide tips on producing greater sentence variety
Identify instances of ambiguity
Comment on an essay’s organization and information flow
Provide tips on including North American stylistic features to an essay
Help evaluate and integrate sources or cited literature
Discuss voice, formality, and tone of an essay
Provide self-editing tips and direct students to helpful writing resources

Calendar of Tutoring Sessions (Winter 2024)

Meet our Autumn 2024 Tutors

Abigail Hill

Abigail comes from Tennessee and is now in Boston pursuing her PhD. She loves tutoring writing because she enjoys helping students understand and implement writing concepts and supporting them to be more confident in their writing ability.

She graduated from UChicago’s MAPSS program in August 2020 with a concentration in History. Her research focused on the ways in which early modern authors crafted narratives about supernatural occurrences in order to support the credibility of their claims.

Bingjie

Bingjie (bing-jyuh) is a BA/MA student in MAPSS from Taiwan. She is interested in learning across cultures in the past and present. She is bilingual in English and Mandarin and is learning French and Arabic. She is dedicated to helping students from international backgrounds find their voices through writing in an additional language, as she believes that the experience should be liberating rather than restricting. When she is away from academic thinking, you can find her either on bars or beam doing gymnastics or in the kitchen researching the best recipes from various parts of the world.

“I enrolled in the Academic English Pre-Matriculation Program: Writing because because I thought this is a great opportunity to learn North American academic writing, and it did really help me a lot. My instructor, Tim is very patient and thoughtful. He explained topics like controlling claims, sentence boundaries, and even networking etiquette. In addition, we even had outdoor excursion, which was a great way to get to know Chicago and your cohort! Lastly, thanks every instructor and staff member in the AEPP for providing such a fun and warm place for us to learn and have fun!”

Wuxing

Masters student

“I took Written Communication: Crafting Varied and Impactful Sentences because I am a researcher and academic writing constitutes the most important part of my academic life. I now feel more comfortable and confident to write and manipulate an English sentence, demonstrated by my improved writing and self-editing capability. An example is that one of my recent research papers was accepted without any English language revision. An international student who wants to improve his/her academic writing is highly recommended to take this course.”

Kun

Staff