The Graduate Writing & Tutoring Center

Our Mission

The Graduate Writing & Tutoring Center seeks to empower graduate students at MIIS by providing with useful, immediate takeaways from our tutoring sessions while supporting students with tools and suggestions to independently improve their academic and professional communication skills. We assist students of all disciplines and language backgrounds in strengthening their communication skills. 

Tutoring Sessions

• We have both on-site (in Monterey) and online (by Zoom) tutoring sessions available.  When you make your appointment, let your tutor know which you prefer
• Be sure to tell your tutor what you’d like to focus on during your appointment.
• During a tutoring session, our tutors will ask you questions about your session goals and concerns and guide you through ideas for improving your communication skills. 
• You can ask for help from our tutors on a variety of scholarly and professional genres. These might range from your academic course work (e.g., research papers, analytical essays, policy memos, presentations) to more professional products such as conference abstracts and presentations, op-eds, grant proposals and applications, journal articles, blog posts, etc.
• The tutors can help you with any stage of the process: brainstorming ideas, composing outlines, structuring your presentation or paper, and adhering to stylistic conventions of your field (e.g., MLA, APA, or Chicago).
• Your session focuses on you and your needs. The tutors are committed to helping you express yourself more clearly. This means that they are not going to “fix” your work, but will help give you the tools to do so.
• If you’d like to “Meet our tutors,” click on the Meet our Tutors links to the right. 

Make an Appointment 

• The GWC runs on appointments and does not have drop-in hours available. Book an appointment below using your MIIS/Middlebury e-mail address for your one-on-one session.
• We have both on-site (MIIS campus) and online (by Zoom) appointments available.  When you book your appointment, let us know which you prefer.
• Please let your tutor know what you would like to work on with them when you make your appointment so they can prepare in advance.
• If you would like your tutor to review a draft/assignment with you, please e-mail your product to your tutor at least 24 hours before your appointment so that they have time to read your work. Don’t worry if a draft is not “perfect” or “finished.” Send it along anyway!
• Once an appointment is made through the system, you will receive a confirmation email about your appointment. Our tutors will also get in touch with you to request your paper and make the necessary arrangements for the meeting.
• Please make only ONE appointment at a time, in order to leave appointment availability for other students.  After you meet with your tutor, you can make a follow-up appointment if needed.
• If you think you won’t be able to make it to your appointment, please make sure you cancel it within no less than 24-hours’ notice to avoid a late cancellation/no-show penalty. You can cancel your appointment by following the instructions on the appointment confirmation e-mail.
• If you have a choice between tutors at a time you’d like and would like to see who might best suit your needs, click on Meet our Tutors in the menu to the right and read their bios.
• If available times don’t match your schedule or timezone, please Contact us (link to the right) and we can make special arrangements. 

Workshops

The GWC offers occasional workshops.  We try to offer them during the MIIS Community Hour timeslot on Tuesdays (12-2 PST).  Please check MiCommunity for announcements of details and times of any upcoming workshops.

Past Workshops

Using ChatGPT  [Video of workshop] [Slides]  

Data Visualization [Slides] 

Watch the FA23 Academic Integrity Workshop here. (Passcode: w+7Y6RRr)

Watch the Zotero Workshop here. 

Watch the Academic Presentations Workshop here.

Writing Resources

Here are some links to good writing resources that may be helpful:

Purdue Online Writing Lab: Resources for subject-specific writing, preparing job materials, and style guides (APA, MLA, Chicago)

The Writing Center at UNC, Chapel Hill: Resources for different genres of writing, as well as for various aspects of the writing process (e.g., procrastination, reorganizing, flow) and grammatical struggles

The Writer’s Handbook (University of Wisconsin-Madison): Resources for different genres of writing, including job materials and application essays, as well as for the writing process and grammatical issues. 

Contact Us

If you have any questions, please contact us at writingcenter@middlebury.edu.

Meet Our English Language Tutors

Aaron Tsai

Aaron is a seeking the MA degree in Teaching Language. He has used his background as a heritage Chinese speaker and his decade-plus study of French to help tutor fellow students at his alma mater of Southern Methodist University in Texas, where he double-majored in both. Aaron empathizes with the journey of learning languages, so if you’re needing someone to help demystify a project, reinforce your skills, or just listen to your trials and tribulations in learning, he is more than happy to do so!

Meet our Language Tutors

Come back in the Fall to meet the other language tutors!

Spanish

Chinese

Aaron Tsai

Aaron is a first-year student seeking the MA degree in Teaching Foreign Language. He has used his background as a heritage Chinese speaker and his decade-plus study of French to help tutor fellow students at his alma mater of Southern Methodist University in Texas, where he double-majored in both. Aaron empathizes with the journey of learning these two languages, so if you’re needing someone to help demystify, reinforce, or just listen to your trials and tribulations in learning, he is more than happy to do so!

French

Emma Beveridge

Emma is a student in the International Policy and Development program with a focus on language and migration policy. She graduated from Wake Forest University in 2020 with a degree in Sociology and minors in Creative Writing and Middle East Studies. Following her graduation, Emma moved to northern France, where she began work as an English language assistant and tutor. 

Since then, she has predominantly split her time between France and the US while continuing to support students learning English as a foreign language. She has also focused on her own writing during this time, spending recent summers working at writing retreats where she assisted writers in developing the content, structure, and style of their work at various stages. 

As a longtime student of French, beginning at a language immersion school twenty years ago, Emma is eager to leverage her experiences and skills to support your French language and writing needs. 

Japanese

Russian