Alyse Leininger Laura Lewis Lynne Gabrielsen

Overcoming the Obstacles of Being A Generalist Tutor: Training

Strategies to Unleash the Olympian Within

Alyse LeiningerLaura Lewis

Lynne Gabrielsen

For example

“The probe for Channel 1 is connected to Node 1 and probe for Channel 2 to Node 2. The oscilloscope is set to alternate mode and both traces are viewed. The time when the rising edge of the Node 1 voltage is 80% of the way from the low quasi-steady-state voltage to the high quasi-steady-state voltage is defined at t=0. The amount of time that elapses before the Node 2 voltage reaches 80% of the high quasi-steady-state value is calculated to be 4 microseconds. The spike of the waveform does not cross the 80% level.”

…Another type of wipeout

Generalist tutor:

“So . . . um . . . tell me more.”

Background

Obstacle 1: Unfamiliarity with conventions

Obstacle 2: Inability to ask the right questions

Obstacle 3: Focusing on local rather than global

Application

Background




Application

Generalist (Ignorant)

• Tutors who are trained in general writing and tutoring techniques

Specialist (Knowledgeable)

• Tutors who are trained in the writing techniques and conventions of a certain discipline

Specialist TutorsStrengths:• Know what kinds of probing questions to ask to

those in their own discipline• Can provide the technical information about the

conventions of the disciplineWeaknesses: • May be inclined to take over the paper and

show their expertise rather than address the necessary concerns

Generalist Tutors

Strengths:• Are able to focus on the intrinsic logic of the paper

rather than how it fits into the rest of the discipline• Can show the writer that the paper must be self-

contained and recognize where the evidence and argumentation is lacking

• Enable the writer to take responsibility for their ideas by forcing them to explain them to an outsider

Generalist Tutors

Weaknesses: • Are unfamiliar with style, audience, and

conventions of other disciplines• Don’t know how to ask the right questions• Focus on local rather than global concerns• Lose confidence when faced with an

unfamiliar paper

Background




Application

Obstacle 1: Failing to understand audience/style/conventions

Genre Theory and Social Constructionist Theory

as lenses and tools

Genre Theory???Social Constructionism???

Genre Theory-Genre: Situationally appropriate

responses to recurrent situations

-Translation: Genres enable disciplinary

communities to advance claims and move toward consensus. Bring together vocab, methods/techniques and a range of “theoretical, methodological, and epistemological commitments that constitute a discipline”

-Translation’s translation:Genres allow disciplinary

communities to do their work.

Social Constructionism-Highlights collaborative

processes and the social nature of becoming a discourse community

-Translation: HOW do communicators

learn to communicate in their field?

HOW do they learn the conventions of a specific discourse community?


• Remember how you learned to write (i.e. contribute to the academic discourse) specifically for your discipline

• Become familiar with the cultures of different disciplines– Culture shapes genre– Through conversation

• Discover philosophies• History of writing in the field

– Business and Engineering

"Being effective as a generalist tutor has a lot to do with being able to transfer skills from one discipline from another

and to recognize the common ground between them."


• Communicate with experienced members of the field– i.e. Professors, members of professional

community– Writing conventions emerge from social situations– Two Caveats: • Genres are not static• Access to members of field may be limited; Role of

Writing Center Directors


• Collect and provide models for tutors to use– Effectiveness debated– Springboard for discussion in conference or staff

meeting– Visual picture• Lab reports• Theses• SEE a social science report: Abstract, Introduction, Lit

Review, Methods, Results, Discussion, Suggestions for future work, Conclusions, References

CRUTCH


• Teach genre as social response to particular rhetorical situation– E.g. Lit Review– A survey of existing conversations – Lay the ground for future research– Highlight gaps and opportunities

Whose interests does this genre serve? Who are the stakeholders and audience?

Background




Application

Background




Application

Obstacle 3: Focusing on Local Rather than Global Concerns

• “In the sessions we looked at. . . . Good tutoring strategies were not enough. All of these tutors were trained to address global before local concerns. . . . But [all the generalist tutors] seem unable to apply them when working with students on assignments that require knowledge of a discipline other than their own” (Kiedaisch and Dinitz).

• Why do you think this happens?


Writing Fellows priorities:– Appropriateness– Focus– Organization– Development– Intro and Conclusion– Surface Features– Diction and Style

Global

Local


Appropriateness– Get to know the prompt as well as you can.

• Questions to ask: – What class is this paper written for? What level is

it written for?– Is the paper fulfilling the requirements?


Focus• Questions to ask:– Does the topic of the paper fit within the scope?

Will it fit adequately within the page limits?– What’s the central issue of your piece?– What’s the one dominant impression you want

your piece to make?• Strategies: – One-sentence summary– Create a headline or bumper sticker


Organization• Questions to ask:– What does writing in your discipline look like?– Tell me how you tied each part or subpart to the thesis.

• Okay, are there any areas not tied to your thesis?– Where could you move this idea?

– What do you think are the major parts of this piece?• Strategies: – Outline– Make a skeleton– Coloring


Development• Questions to ask:– Do you feel like you provide enough evidence here? – Where else could you go with this?

• Identify where and how the piece fails “to provide sufficient evidence for a claim that is being made” (Hubbuch)– Look for logical fallacies: where and how does the

argument NOT make sense?

Generalist Tutors

Strengths:• Are able to focus on the intrinsic logic of the paper

rather than how it fits into the rest of the discipline• Can show the writer that the paper must be self-

contained and recognize where the evidence and argumentation is lacking

• Enable the writer to take responsibility for their ideas by forcing them to explain them to an outsider


Examples of Logical Fallacies:• False Authority: False credibility or no credibility; ethos based on

popularity rather than actual knowledge.– “I’m not a doctor, but I play one on the hit series “Bimbos and Studmuffins in

the OR.” You can take it from me there is nothing better than MorphiDope 2000.”

• Red Herring: Any attempt to draw attention away from the issue by raising irrelevant issues.– “We admit that this measure is popular. But we also urge you to note that

there are so many bond issues on this ballot that the whole thing is getting ridiculous.”

• Hasty Generalization: Jumping to conclusions; a conclusion formed on scant evidence.– “I met some children from Garton yesterday, who were very polite. I think all

children from that area must be well-behaved.”


Local Concerns• Sometimes a little local concern isn’t bad—or

is necessary!• Sentence reorganization may improve reader

interpretation.

Stress positionTopic Position


Old to new information

Stress positionTopic Position

New InformationOld Information


An Example:• Some astonishing questions about the nature

of the universe have been raised by scientists studying black holes in space. A black hole is created by the collapse of a dead star into a point no larger than a marble. So much matter compressed into so little volume changes the fabric of space around it in puzzling ways.

Stolen from Joseph M. Williams’s “Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace.”

Por ejemplo• Large earthquakes along a given fault segment do not occur at

random intervals because it takes time to accumulate the strain energy for the rupture. The rates at which tectonic plates move and accumulate strain at their boundaries are approximately uniform. Therefore, in first approximation, one may expect that large ruptures of the same fault segment will occur at approximately constant time intervals. If subsequent main shocks have different amounts of slip across the fault, then the recurrence time may vary, and the basic idea of periodic main shocks must be modified. For great plate boundary ruptures the length and slip often vary by a factor of 2. Along the southern segment of the San Andreas fault the recurrence interval is 145 years with variations of several decades. The smaller the standard deviation of the average recurrence interval, the more specific could be the long term prediction of a future main shock.

• Large earthquakes along a given fault segment do not occur at random intervals because it takes time to accumulate the strain energy for the rupture. The rates at which tectonic plates move and accumulate strain at their boundaries are roughly uniform. Therefore, nearly constant time intervals (at first approximation) would be expected between large ruptures of the same fault segment. [However?], the recurrence time may vary; the basic idea of periodic mainshocks may need to be modified if subsequent mainshocks have different amounts of slip across the fault. [Indeed?], the length and slip of great plate boundary ruptures often vary by a factor of 2. [For example?], the recurrence intervals along the southern segment of the San Andreas fault is 145 years with variations of several decades. The smaller the standard deviation of the average recurrence interval, the more specific could be the long term prediction of a future mainshock.

You can do it!The smallest of the URF's (URFA6L), a 207-nucleotide (nt) reading frame

overlapping out of phase the NH2-terminal portion of the adenosinetriphosphatase (ATPase) subunit 6 gene, has been identified as the animal equivalent of the recently discovered yeast H+-ATPase subunit 8 gene. The functional significance of the other URF's has been, on the contrary, elusive. Recently, however, immunoprecipitation experiments with antibodies to purified, rotenone-sensitive NADH-ubiquinone oxido-reductase [hereafter referred to as respiratory chain NADH dehydrogenase or complex I] from bovine heart, as well as enzyme fractionation studies, have indicated that six human URF's (that is, URF1, URF2, URF3, URF4, URF4L, and URF5, hereafter referred to as ND1, ND2, ND3, ND4, ND4L, and ND5) encode subunits of complex I. This is a large complex that also contains many subunits synthesized in the cytoplasm.

You can do it!The smallest of the URF's (URFA6L), a 207-nucleotide (nt) reading frame

overlapping out of phase the NH2-terminal portion of the adenosinetriphosphatase (ATPase) subunit 6 gene, has been identified as the animal equivalent of the recently discovered yeast H+-ATPase subunit 8 gene. The functional significance of the other URF's has been, on the contrary, elusive. Recently, however, immunoprecipitation experiments with antibodies to purified, rotenone-sensitive NADH-ubiquinone oxido-reductase [hereafter referred to as respiratory chain NADH dehydrogenase or complex I] from bovine heart, as well as enzyme fractionation studies, have indicated that six human URF's (that is, URF1, URF2, URF3, URF4, URF4L, and URF5, hereafter referred to as ND1, ND2, ND3, ND4, ND4L, and ND5) encode subunits of complex I. This is a large complex that also contains many subunits synthesized in the cytoplasm.

The smallest of the URF's, and [A], has been identified as a [B] subunit 8 gene. The functional significance of the other URF's has been, on the contrary, elusive. Recently, however, [C] experiments, as well as [D] studies, have indicated that six human URF's [1-6] encode subunits of Complex I. This is a large complex that also contains many subunits synthesized in the cytoplasm.

Sources• Gillespie, Paula, and Neal Lerner. The Allyn and Bacon Guide to Peer Tutoring. 2nd ed.

New York: Pearson Longman, 2004. Print.• Gopen, George, and Judith Swan. “The Science of Scientific Writing.” American Scientist.

Web.• Hubbuch, Susan M. “A Tutor Needs to Know the Subject Matter to Help a Student with a

Paper: [] Agree []Disagree [] Not Sure.” Writing Center Journal 8.2 (1998): 23-30. Web.• Kiedaisch, Jean, and Sue Dinitz. “‘Look Back and Say “So What”’: The Limitations of the

Generalist Tutor.” Writing Center Journal 14.1 (1993): 63-74. Web.• McAndrew, Donald A., and Thomas J. Reigstad. Tutoring Writing: A Practical Guide for

Conferences. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook Publishers, 2001. Print.• Quinn, Natalie. “Analysis Dialysis: Diagnosing and Treating Students’ Rhetorical Renal

Failure.” Brigham Young University. Maeser Building, BYU, Provo, UT. 6 February 2010. Writing Fellows Workshop.

• Treichler, Dorothy, and Emilie Steffan. “Academic diversity and the generalist tutor: How to survive and thrive tutoring outside your discipline.” Writing Lab Newsletter 30.2 (2005): 10-11. Web.

• Walker, Kristin. “The Debate over Generalist and Specialist Tutors: Genre Theory’s Contribution.” Writing Center Journal 18.2 (1998): 26-46. Web.

Alyse Leininger Laura Lewis Lynne Gabrielsen

Documents

genre theorygenre

low quasisteadystate

generalist ignorant

generalist tutor ignorantthey

toolsgenre theory

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social constructionist

weaknesses of specialist