Tutoring

We use My WC Online to schedule tutoring appointments. The first time you visit this site, you will be asked to register for MyWCOnline, a third-party platform to which we subscribe. This platform is widely used by writing tutoring services across the U.S. and can be trusted to keep your data secure. 

Click here to make a tutoring appointment.

Q: Are there face-to-face appointments?

A: Pronunciation Tutoring will only be online for Fall 2023. Writing & Presenting tutoring is mostly online; However, we may offer limited face-to-face appointments. 

Q: What is Online tutoring? 

A: Your tutor will meet you online (i.e. synchronously). You can share your content with the tutor and have the option of using video, audio, or chat to communicate with your tutor.  

Q: How do I book an Online session?

A: Choose an open (i.e. white) slot on the sign-up schedule. Under “Meet Online?” select “Yes, Schedule Online appointment.” Then at the time of your appointment, find your timeslot on the schedule, select it, and you will see this prompt in red letters: “Start or Join Online Consultation.”

Q: For Writing & Presenting, what is eTutoring?

A: You email your document to your tutor. The tutor will make comments on it and send it back to you by the end of your booked session.

Q: How do I book an eTutoring session?

A: Choose an open (i.e. white) slot on the schedule below. Under “Meet Online?” select “Yes, Schedule eTutoring appointment.” Then find your tutor’s email address that is listed above on the form, and email your tutor your document.

For best results in eTutoring, email your document as soon as you can and include the following information: (1) What is your document? Is it a class paper? Part of a dissertation? An email to a professor? (2) Does your document have a due date? If so when? (3) How important is the document? Is it a cover letter that must be perfect? Is it a first draft of something you will re-write? (4) Have you received other comments on the paper? If so, what were they? (5) Were you given instructions on how to write the document, such as a writing prompt? If so, please include them. (6) What do you want the tutor to focus on? The overall structure and ideas? A certain section? Looking for word-level mistakes?

To make an appointment, go to cornell.mywconline.com and select "ELSO F23 Writing & Presenting" from the top drop down menu. Most appointments are online (i.e., synchronous) or eTutoring (i.e., asynchronous). A few can be made face-to-face. Strategies for having a great tutoring session can be found here.

During a writing or presentation tutoring session, our tutors may help you to:

• get started with writing projects and presentations
• revise drafts for structure and organization
• identify and discuss issues related to grammar, word choice, syntax, and expression
• gain insight into linguistic, stylistic, and rhetorical conventions of writing and presentations in US academic settings
• interpret results from Turn It In (available on the ELSO Canvas site) and learn strategies for effectively paraphrasing and summarizing

Tutors will work with you on any kind of writing: class assignment, research paper, email, job application materials, blogs, etc. They can also help you with any kind of presentation: class presentation, journal club presentation, conference paper, poster presentation, job talk, etc. And whether you are working on a writing project or presentation, you may come at any point in the process: from brainstorming to finalizing.

You may request a single appointment to work on a particular paper or presentation, or a series of appointments to keep you moving forward with a larger project.

Learn about the Writing and Presenting Tutors here

This program is coordinated by Dr. Nathan Lindberg. (email Dr. Lindberg).

During a pronunciation tutoring session, our tutors may help you with:

• identifying your pronunciation areas of difficulty and what is affecting your overall intelligibility
• practicing specific areas of pronunciation (sounds, intonation, fluency, word stress, linking, field terminology)
• determining your pronunciation goals and making a plan for individualized practice
• locating resources that help support your pronunciation needs

For your initial appointment, you will need to make a diagnostic speech recording with your laptop or phone and make it available electronically to your tutor during your scheduled session. The diagnostic speech recording should be about 1-2 minutes.

You can choose ONE from the following list for your speech recording: 

1) Describe your first day in the United States or at Cornell University. What did you do? What happened? What challenges did you encounter? What were your first thoughts? How did this compare with your expectations?

2) Describe and summarize a book or an article you've read or a movie you've seen. What happened? Would you recommend this to others? Why or why not? What were the main points or events?

3) Talk about a miscommunication experience you have had. What happened? Who was this with? Where?  How did you respond?

After the first session, you can work with pronunciation tutors to support your specific academic needs by bringing material to: practice a mock job interview, deliver an oral presentation, defend a thesis, summarize a lab report, give a job talk, pitch your academic and professional interests, discuss your research, give a poster presentation, meet with advisors and faculty, etc.

Within these contexts, you can focus on areas of pronunciation difficulty determined by you and the tutor during the initial appointment.

This program is coordinated by Melissa Myers (email Ms. Myers).

Click here to view bios of the ELSO tutors.

Learn about the Writing and Presenting Tutors here

• Appointments are for 45-minute sessions, which start on the hour.
• Appointments may be made up to 7 days before the scheduled session. 
• All writing and presenting tutees are limited to up to 2 appointments per week, which may be booked back-to-back.
• Pronunciation tutees are limited to 1 appointment per week.
• Pronunciation tutees may cancel appointments up to 2 hours before their scheduled appointment time.
• A tutee will be marked as a "no-show" if he/she does not logon within the first 10 minutes of a session. For eTutoring, tutees must email their document to their tutor before their booked session starts. 
• After 3 no-shows, a tutee will be blocked from making more appointments and any scheduled appointments will be canceled. Tutees wishing to reinstate their tutoring privileges need to contact Dr. Nathan Lindberg.