Particular strategies for helping the student come to mind. You may ask the student specific questions about his paper in an effort to determine how to best help him:

• How long have you been working on this paper?
• Do you have an outline?
• What problems or concerns do you have?
• Have you received help from someone else?

An excellent initial strategy is to ask "What are you trying to tell the reader?” Often students can vocalize their thoughts much better than they can write them, so if you have an idea of what they want to do you can better determine if they did, in fact, accomplish their goal. This discussion usually helps students to determine whether they have communicated effectively.

The amount of assistance you can provide will be determined in part by the due date of the paper. Unfortunately, some students procrastinate and arrive at the writing center at the last minute. Obviously, if the paper is due in two hours, your help will be different than if the paper is due in two weeks. Sometimes because of time constraints, you will be unable to give the assistance you would like to give. If a student brings a paper in at the last minute, you should not feel guilty about providing minimal help. Occasionally, all you have time to do is address blatant grammatical errors and perhaps organizational problems. If you encounter serious errors with the thesis, structure, or development, you will need to tell the student that time does not allow for in-depth  assistance. Encourage her to come earlier next time.

One other issue to consider is the problem of students who want to drop off their papers. Remind students in a firm way that tutors are available for assistance, but that assistance cannot take place without a dialogue. Tutors need to carry on a conversation with students to provide the best possible help. The writing center is not an editing service, and you will need to work hard to abide by the ground rules of the center. Posting writing center standards for everyone to see is a good way to decrease the problems of last minute and drop-off papers. There is also unity in numbers, so all tutors must present the same response to these issues. Also, be sure to discuss problems you encounter with your Writing Center Director.