What is honors thesis tutoring?
Thesis tutors at the Barrett Writing Center support Barrett students at all stages of their honors thesis. Instead of a one-off appointment for a Human Event essay, you meet regularly with an experienced tutor who is working on their own thesis to discuss whatever stage of the thesis you’re working on. Thesis tracks are here to help demystify new skills, provide structure, support your work process, and help you get to the finish line.
Why should I go to the Barrett Writing Center with my thesis?
You’ll get to work with a Barrett tutor who’s working on their own thesis. You’ll have a safer space to ask questions. By setting up regular appointments, you’ll get more structure and face-to-face time than many professors can provide. You’ll be more likely to actually write something rather than procrastinating if you have an appointment to show up to. You’ll get feedback earlier rather than waiting for your committee’s next meeting times. You’ll gain awareness and tools for things universities often assume students already have: time management, notetaking, reading difficult texts, etc.
How can a Barrett writing tutor help me if I don’t have a rough draft to bring yet?
Think of this as skills building at every step of the way, rather than feedback on a finished product. It takes an enormous amount of work to write a thesis! By the time you have a draft done, you’re already most of the way to the finish line. If you work with a tutor earlier, you’ll have support for skills your committee may not have the bandwidth to help you with: creating a writing schedule, sticking to a writing schedule, writing a literature review, working with your committee’s feedback, transitions, abstracts, and just plain facing down a blank page that needs to be filled up. Tutors can also help with brainstorming topics or how to email professors. In addition to learning some of these hard skills, sitting with a writing tutor can help you feel supported and seen throughout your thesis process. It's an intimidating project, but this way you'll get to talk to someone who has been or is going through it with you.
Who should make a thesis tutoring appointment?
Anyone who’s afraid of not finishing their thesis. Anyone with lots of writing anxiety. Anyone who’s the first person in their family to go to college. Anyone who's considered dropping out of Barrett because of the thesis. Anyone tackling a thesis topic outside of their major. Anyone who feels like they’re not smart enough or good enough to write a thesis (spoiler alert: you are!). Anyone who would benefit from regular meetings to brainstorm, share drafts, and develop the thesis piece by piece.
How does this work?
Go to the Barrett Writing Center website and click “schedule an appointment,” then follow the menu to an honors thesis appointment. You will be scheduled with an experienced tutor who is working on their own thesis. In your initial appointment, it’s helpful to discuss your goals, questions, and planned thesis timeline, and schedule out weekly or biweekly meetings with your tutor for the semester.
I have more questions!
Please email Dr. Van Engen, the director of the Barrett Writing Center, at ddvaneng@asu.edu.