The Expository Writer: How To Find a Good Writing Tutor in NYC

 

At the risk of self-promotion, today’s post is about how to locate a good writing tutor in New York. 

There are many talented writers in New York and many resources for writing help, but it’s not always easy to know what criteria to look for. 

In the context of a verbal standardized test, you can look for a tutor who has a strong track record of raising scores, but in the context of writing, the goals are less quantifiable and the range of successful outcomes is broad.  It’s hard to find a good tutor for writing because, more so than in almost any other area of the tutoring universe, different things work for people. 

That said, there are a couple tips that I can offer today that may make your search for a writing tutor easier:

• First, ask yourself why exactly you are looking for a writing tutor.  Are you looking for writing tutoring for a class, for the SAT (or another test), or because you’ve decided it’s time work on writing on your own?  Your answer to this question should help guide your search for a tutor.  There are many genres of writing and you should start by scoping which genre is most important to you.
• The answer to this first question can help guide your search.  You should include tutors who have the requisite experience and reject tutors who don’t.  A tutor who has only taught writing in the context of a psychology course is probably not the best choice for you if you are most interested in poetry.  The distinctions between genres of writing matter and they should be reflected in your tutor choice.
• Once you have narrowed your choices, don’t be afraid to ask about the experience of the tutor.  What is the tutor’s experience with writing?  Is the tutor a writer or a teacher of writing?  Ideally, you will have a tutor with both kinds of experience.  Under no circumstances should you select a tutor who has neither.  A BA from a good school says nothing about a tutor’s ability to teach you how to write.
• Now that you are zoning in on the right tutor, you might ask to see a writing sample.  What do you think about what you see?  Does the voice sound likeable?  Are the materials presented fluently?  Most importantly, is the tutor forthright about sending you his or her work?  None of these questions should cause any turbulence.  If your tutor is an active writer, he or she will have multiple writing samples to send you.  If you get excuses, move on.
• Finally, remember that writing is intimate when it’s any good.  You have to feel a measure of comfort with someone who will guide you in your writing, or the whole enterprise will fail.  Have several sessions to make sure you like the tutor.  Is this someone you might imagine sharing five paragraphs with on a regular basis?  If so, you’ve found yourself a writing tutor.

Now that we’ve objectively guided you through this process, please feel free to ask any of our tutors the hard questions.  We already have - and they nailed ‘em!
Till next time!
The Expository Writer