Tutoring
If you’ve spent any time thinking about your writing intentionally, you are aware of voice, even if you wouldn’t call it that.
Questions of voice crop up when we ask someone to review something that we have written, and they suggest a word that we would not use one single time in a million years (if we even know what it means).
Most of us don’t want to leave that word in there because, even if it makes us sound smarter or more sophisticated, it doesn’t sound like us.
This is especially true of academic writing:
The kind of voice to share research, present arguments, and explore topics at varying depths tends to be quite a bit different than the way we speak. For some people, early experiences in academic writing can feel inauthentic, but I like to think about it like being invited to a swanky party and given $5000 to really get gussied up.
Most of us would likely buy a new outfit, probably splurge on some hair or skin care and styling, and some lovely accessories. But no matter how stylish we looked or felt, it would still be us walking into that party. Likewise, even if we are using words differently than our normal everyday iterations, academic writing still needs to sound like the author.
So why does it sound weird and feel hard? Because we aren’t used to reading and writing our thoughts in this way. Just like we get weirded out when we hear a recording of our own voice, it’s new and different.
There is no such thing as a bad writer.
There are only writers who haven’t practiced enough yet.
I’d love to help you.
-
Idea & Thesis
For those needing help coming up with an idea, creating a writing plan, and/or writing a thesis for an academic assignment.
-
Rough Draft
If you’ve started writing and are feeling stuck (or run out of things to say before meeting a page requirement).
-
Incorporating Research
You’ve found the research & started a draft, and are looking for help with transitions, citations, works cited/reference pages, etc.
-
Fine Tuning
Grammar can be tricky. Once you have the heart of the essay drafted, it can be nice to have someone help with flow, punctuation, and other fine-tuning.